


Stars Family

by Lafaiette



Series: Ad Astra [3]
Category: Vampire Hunter D (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/M, Family Fluff, Humor, Love, Married Sex, Parenthood, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-07
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2019-08-20 06:39:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 26,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16550834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lafaiette/pseuds/Lafaiette
Summary: Meier Link and Charlotte Elbourne, finally safe in the City of the Night, begin their new life as parents.Sequel toGarden of Stars





	1. Chapter 1

Charlotte and Meier remained in the robot midwife’s house for a few days, then they went back to their castle, little Esther wrapped in a warm, soft blanket. The robots celebrated her birth with cheerful sounds and vibrant laughter and when the Baron and Baroness gently put their daughter into her crib for the first time, they both cried out of joy while admiring her.

The dogs, Moon and Cosmos, were curious and sniffed her before gently licking her face. They lied down by the crib and never moved far from it, their heart already belonging to the newborn dhampir.

“She is so cute.” Meier said softly, touching her minuscule fist with a finger. There were awe and love in his eyes and voice and Charlotte rested her head on his arm, entwining their fingers together.

“She is an adorable moon.” She couldn’t stop looking at her either and her smile was big and warm. “I wonder if her hair colour will change and what her eye colour will be.”

“I hope she got your eyes.” He touched the silver tuft of hair on her small head and he blushed, laughing softly. “But if her hair will change, I’d like her to have something of me, too.”

“Oh, I’d love for her to have your silver hair! But look, I can already see your nose.” She gently tapped the baby’s and she gurgled, flailing her tiny fists. His blush deepened and his smile broadened and became flattered, even more joyous.

They were already madly in love with her and they couldn’t stand the thought of having her sleep there, even though she would be just a few steps far from them. They agreed to take her into their bed for that first night – Meier was scared of accidentally crushing her in his sleep, but their bed was large and Charlotte propped the baby right at the centre of it, reassuring him.

“Our little star.” she whispered, caressing Esther’s hand. She was sleeping soundly and Charlotte watched her with an elated smile, her dimpled cheeks flushed pink. “Our beloved pumpkin.”

Meier laughed softly hearing the cute nicknames and she giggled and blushed hard when she saw the tender, loving way he was looking at her and their daughter.

“Oh, honey, we will spoil her so much, I already know it!”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He placed a gentle kiss on the baby’s forehead, then he kissed Charlotte, cupping her cheek. “Oh, my love! I’m so, so happy!”

“Me too!” She beamed at him, then her blush spread to her ears and she looked down at their child with a soft sound. “Do you… do you think your parents and relatives would have loved her, too?”

“Of course! Charlotte, they loved and respected humans and dhampirs, you know this. They would have celebrated and blessed this day, you, and our daughter.” He hurried to lift her head to look into her eyes, wishing to reassure her as soon as possible. “My love. I thought about this day since the night we declared our love to each other. You, still human, always human, and I, lulling our dhampir baby, safe and together.”

She giggled, her face flushed red, flattered. “You never had any intention of turning me since from the start.”

“Exactly.” He chuckled softly, then kissed her hand. “I thought about it only while you were recovering from your wound, on the ship, but as you know I quickly realized I couldn’t do it.”

“I’m glad.” He was still holding her hand near his face and she caressed it, her eyes and voice soft. “I’m glad we decided to keep living like this. I… I want to stay with you and our daughter this way.” She smiled brightly at him. “So we will be happy forever.”

“Yes.” He peppered her palm and wrist with tickling kisses, on his face the biggest, most radiant love imaginable. “Yes, my beloved.”

They got under the sheets and made sure to cover Esther with another warm blanket. Meier was a bit tense for a while and lied so still he resembled a statue. But when Esther woke up for a bit and gargled a little bit more, he smiled and moved closer to her and Charlotte. She took his hand and rested it on the baby, then put her own on top of his, holding two of his long fingers. They beamed at each other and fell asleep like that.

When they woke up, many hours later, Esther was awake and her eyes were open. They knew her eye colour might change in time, but when he saw she had the same amber hue of her mother, Meier was happy beyond words.

It was time to feed her and he watched the scene with the same interest, awe, and curiosity of the first time. Noble women fed their babies their own blood, letting them suck it out of their filled breast, a raw version of the human way. When Charlotte had first read about it, she had thought about it for the whole day, bewildered, and had asked Meier about it. He had reassured her that Noble women didn’t feel pain or so his mother had told him so many centuries before, when he had asked her the same question.  

Dhampir babies were different. They needed both blood and their mother’s milk and, luckily for Charlotte, Esther sucked the milk out of her breast without any fuss, then she was fed rich, flavourful artificial blood from a bottle. Meier knew human women produced milk instead of blood during the first years and that big difference had filled him with a great sense of peace and sweetness.

He sat on the bed next to Charlotte and watched the scene with a big smile. Esther was always pretty hungry, they had realized in those few days, and Charlotte always joked about it.

“Your Papa will give you the bottle in a little bit, honeypie.” she told her, kissing her forehead. “Then we will lull you and we will sleep a little bit more, alright?”

Her smile grew and she blushed when she saw the way Meier was looking at her and the baby. She looked back at the little one, shy, and he moved to press a kiss on her cheek.

They spoke in soft tones, watching the baby, Meier’s arm around Charlotte’s shoulders; once Esther had finished, she kissed her forehead again and gave her to him. He knew how to hold her well, now, and he didn’t feel scared and nervous anymore. He rocked her a little in his arms, then retrieved the bottle full of artificial blood from the table and gave it to her, humming softly.

She drank it all, ravenous as ever, and he pressed his lips on her forehead before lulling her to make sure she would digest everything well. He spoke to her in a quiet, tender tone – “Now let’s go back to sleep to Mama, yes? Little star, our little comet.” – and he delicately put her back on the soft pillows on the bed, covering her with the warm, colourful blankets they had taken from the nursery room.

He went back under the covers, too, and this time he was more relaxed, lying closer to the baby. He took and kissed Charlotte’s hand and she once again grabbed two of his fingers before falling asleep.

When he woke, a few hours later, he kissed his wife and his daughter, made sure they were well covered, then picked a book and read in bed for a while, reviewing the information about dhampir babies he and Charlotte had studied during their trip on the ship and her pregnancy. Charlotte woke a little while later.

There was something she wanted to work on. They knew dhampirs could get burn by water; it didn’t hurt them as much as it hurt vampires, but the books and the robots said the feeling was still pretty bothersome and they had no intention of hurting their child. The dhampirs of the City had used a special oil to bathe themselves, but the results had never been satisfactory, according to Mr. Butler. It was too dense and it left a strong-smelling sheen on the skin, leaving anyone who used it feel almost dirtier than before.

“I know much about plants and flowers.” Charlotte said as they changed clothes for the ‘day’ ahead. “Maybe, if I experimented a little with them, I could come up with something useful.” She blushed, suddenly self-conscious. “I mean, I doubt it will be easy and if the Nobles of the City couldn’t find a solution for the dhampirs, I probably won’t _ever_ be able to do it, but…”

“Love.” Meier interrupted her gently, squeezing her hand, his eyes loving and full of pride and admiration. “The Nobles and dhampirs here probably never even tried to change and improve such things, maybe considering them too all too natural, silly, or unimportant, as foolish as that sounds. You are a brilliant, wonderful woman and I’m sure you will be able to prepare what our daughter needs.” He beamed at her happily. “I will help you in any way I can! Just tell me what you need!”

“Well…” She blushed, flattered and flustered, and she smiled back at him. “I was thinking of creating a sort of liquid which all three of us could use. A kind of… universal water.”

Meier’s pride and awe increased and he exclaimed and looked at her enthusiastically as she explained to him what she had in mind and what she was sure she would need and do to get closer to such an important invention. After bringing Esther downstairs and asking the robot housemaids to keep an eye on her as she slept, they got to work: Meier helped Charlotte set up a small laboratory in a part of the greenhouse, following her instructions to craft the tools they couldn’t find in the castle and in the City. In the meantime, she took care of the bottles and plants and books and after a few hours the laboratory was ready.

While his expertise lied mostly in physics, constellations, and technology, Charlotte had become a master at botanic, biology, and chemistry. The books she had read and the information she had sought and studied allowed her to see possibilities and solutions within flowers, petals, stems, plants. That was the first time she actively tried to prepare something, but Meier knew she had written much - formulas and ideas and figures - in her botanical journal and he was ready to help her in any way.

“It will take a while.” she sighed flipping the pages of her journal. “I thought about this kind of water much during the pregnancy, but I’m still missing some crucial point. I’m sure the roots of my tulips can help, if mixed with a bit of acacia bark, but…”

He rested a hand on her shoulder and kissed her, smiling, and she smiled back, her cheeks an adorable hue of pink.

“Charlotte.” he said softly. “You will do it. Just tell me what you need and I will go fetch it for you.”

“Thank you, honey.” She rose on her tiptoes and kissed him. “Then, could you go find me some oak leaves…?”

They spent the afternoon like that and Meier’s heart beat with pride and love as his brilliant Charlotte came closer and closer to the solution to ensure their baby could bathe without pain. Every time she caught him looking at her with lovestruck eyes, she giggled and blushed and tugged at his sleeve and the most beautiful smile appeared on her kind, flushed face.

Above them, above the glass roof of the greenhouse he had built for her, the stars twinkled serenely and the bright moon of the City offered them their light.


	2. Chapter 2

“I know you are here!” Meier laughed, coming into the room and peeking under the long curtains of the windows. Charlotte, standing near the table and putting flowers into different pots, smiled at him.

“Can’t find our little star?” she asked and he grinned, pressing a finger on his lips.

“Don’t let her hear that! I’m sure she is here somewhere.” He rubbed his neck and looked around, suddenly puzzled. “At least, I hope so. I visited the rest of our rooms and I couldn’t find her there.”

“Maybe she is not _inside_ the castle.” she said, checking the water’s temperature in the watering can before watering the flowers. Her smile was bigger, amused. “What if she is hiding in the garden or near the lake?”

“That’s against the rules!” He looked almost shocked for a moment. “That wouldn’t be fair!”

“Did you check the roof of the western tower?” She looked at the underside of the leaves.

“I did! She can only be here!” He moved around the room, tapping his chin. “Now, I just need to find her without using my powers.”

But no matter how many times he looked under the curtains, the tables, behind the furniture, and even inside the chests where they kept unused curtains and tablecloths, Esther didn’t appear. In the end, he went to Charlotte and wrapped his arms around her waist.

“Charlotte.” he mumbled, rubbing his face against her hair. “I cannot find her.”

“Try the garden.” she repeated patiently, her smile still there, and he whined.

“But we agreed before starting that we wouldn’t hide outside the castle and we wouldn’t use our powers to find each other! She wouldn’t break the rules like that!”

“She wants to win, honey!” she laughed, patting his cheek.

He made a low sound, then he moved his hand up, brushing his long fingers on the underside of her breast.

“Are you sure she isn’t here, love?” he whispered sultrily in her ear before kissing her cheek and she giggled, a pleasant, warm tingle running up her spine and warming her belly.

“I’m sure!”

He huffed and pouted at her, but she only laughed harder and patted his thigh.

“I’m sure she is in the garden. Call it a mother’s instinct.” She grinned. “I’m sure you couldn’t find me without your powers either!”

“Hmpf.” He nuzzled her cheek with his cold nose, making her giggle. “Is that a challenge?”

“Perhaps.” She gave him an innocent smile, fluttering her eyes, and he laughed, rocking her in his arms while kissing her.

“Alright!” he exclaimed, begrudgingly pulling away from her, but ready to resume his search of their daughter. “I will go look in the garden.” He whined, a childlike, innocent mischief in his eyes. “Perhaps I should use Moon and Cosmos’ help…?”

“Meier!” Charlotte gave him a serious look and he hurried to give her another loud kiss.

“You are right!” He smooched her again, eager to hear her giggle and see her smile again, and when she did that, he beamed at her. “I will go now. I will let you know if our starlight ignored all the civil rules of the game we established together-”

“ _Meier._ ”

“-and deliberately went hiding outside the castle, making a fool out of her poor, honourable, innocent father.”

“Go, you dork!” She swatted his back as he went towards the door and they smiled at each other, their bodies shaking with silent laughter, before he left the room.

She waited for a few minutes, checking the last plants and flowers, then she quietly lifted her large skirts. Esther was hiding underneath them, holding onto her leg. The adorable silver-haired and amber-eyed toddler smiled at her and Charlotte laughed softly, bending down to pick her up.

“Your Dad will whine and complain so much when he will find out!”

Esther laughed with her, her dimpled cheeks darkening with a cheerful blush, her eyes glittering like the stars outside.

“But you know he’s actually really happy when you win, stardust.”

“Yes, Mommy. But he’s really funny when he pretends to be offended and pouts at me and says I never let him win!”

“Yes, he is adorable.” Charlotte pressed a loud kiss on her squishy cheek, then said with a grin: “Ready for the surprise?”

“Ready!”

A few minutes later, Meier returned, looking distressed and anxious. Charlotte was alone again in the room, still standing near the table with the flowers on it, and when she lifted her eyes from them, she saw how worried he was.

“Charlotte, I cannot find her. She isn’t in the garden, either.” He looked around, then at her, his crimson eyes filled with concern and fear. His beautiful hands were slightly shaking, too.

“Come here, honey.” she said, wanting the surprise to happen as soon as possible so he would stop worrying for nothing. She was starting to feel guilty and her hands immediately grasped his, gently, when he went to her.

“I will use my powers. She might have walked down the hill or gotten lost in the woods or…”

“Daddy!”

Esther came out from under Charlotte’s gown and seized his leg, making him wobble. He gawked at her, surprised, then relief and joy appeared on his face.

“There you are, starlight!” He picked her up, laughing, and pressed many kisses on her soft face. “I was so worried! I couldn’t find you and… Wait.” He stopped and narrowed his eyes, making a low thoughtful sound. Esther started giggling, kicking her short legs in the air, and Charlotte stifled her snickers and snorts behind a hand.

“You were _here!_ Hidden under your mother’s skirts the whole time!” He groaned as both his wife and his daughter laughed out loud. “Wicked fairies, that’s what you are!”

“Mommy is a fairy! I’m a dhampir!” Esther showed her minuscule fangs and Meier nuzzled her nose, saying: “Yes, you are. The cutest, most adorable dhampir in the universe.” He harrumphed with a scowl, pretending to be offended. “But that was still unfair!”

“But I _was_ inside the castle, Daddy!” She turned to Charlotte, who kissed the top of her head. “Right, Mommy?”

“Right, starlight.”

“You told me she was outside!” He groaned again when they laughed and he pouted the whole time – while feeding Esther an apple, while reading with Charlotte on his lap, and he occasionally grumbled, making sure they could hear him. They giggled and Esther even climbed on Charlotte’s lap to pat his head.

“I promise I will make you win next time, Daddy.”

“That is very kind of you.” he mumbled, pretending to be too deeply interested in his book to turn his eyes to her. But when she whispered something in Charlotte’s ear and then, giggling loudly, tugged at the locks of hair falling near his face, he yelped in surprise and tried to catch her.

“Sorry, Charlotte!” he said, kissing her before lifting her from his lap and putting her back on the sofa. “Come here, you mischievous comet!”

He chased the giggling toddler, making sure to always let her get away and only brushing his fingers on her back or head, making her sprint faster and laugh harder. She hid under Charlotte’s gown again and Charlotte laughed as well, her cheeks red and joy in her heart, as Meier stopped.

“Well?” she asked her husband with a smile. “Aren’t you joining her?”

Esther peeked out from under long skirts.

“I am a gentleman.” he said, then he grinned at his wife and leaned in, whispering: “But if you insist, I _will_ crawl under your dress, my love.”

“Later!” she promised him, tapping his nose and kissing him, and he happily sat on the ground, a huge smile on his face. His hair and clothes were dishevelled and his eyes were glittering, as though the stars outside had moved into his crimson irises. He looked so joyous and cheerful Charlotte’s heart missed a beat, so strong was her love for him and their daughter.

Oh, if the humans on Earth could see him! To them, the thought of a Noble playing and joking and laughing like that was heresy, something that couldn’t exist, an unconceivable reality – but they were fools and she was so, so lucky to be able to be with him and watch him play with the little girl they had conceived together, so lucky to have him and Esther in her life and spend her days with them in such great bliss.

“I suppose I will just wait here, waiting for this little imp to come out.”

They heard a giggle and Charlotte whispered while fixing her husband’s low ponytail, a smile on her face: “If I remember correctly, Mr. Cook prepared a chocolate cake for dinner.”

“Truly?” Meier lowered his voice, too. “Well, if she doesn’t come out, it will be gone soon! Your sweet tooth is insatiable, my love.”

“Ah! Mommy!” Esther’s head reappeared from under her skirts. “Please, don’t eat all the cake! Leave a slice for me!”

Meier snatched her from her hiding spot and growled into her cheek as he smooched it and she laughed again – she gurgled and giggled when he blew raspberries on her belly and when he pressed a loud kiss on her forehead, she patted his cheeks.

“Mommy!” she called, for she always shared her kisses and cuddles with her parents, and Charlotte immediately peppered her face with tickling kisses and squished her face, laughing, her forehead resting against the little girl’s.

“Don’t worry, pumpkin, the cake is all yours.” she promised, but Esther shook her head. “We can cut it in half, Mommy! But will there be a blood cake for Daddy, too?”

“Of course! He tries to deny it, but he has an insatiable sweet tooth, too.” Charlotte stuck her tongue out at Meier, who grinned and kissed her. He gave Esther to her and slipped an arm around her waist, watching his wife and their daughter joke and laugh with love on his face and in his heart.

Together, they went into the garden, to admire the kind stars and play some more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love them ; A ; The chapters for this fic will be shorter than the ones for Garden of Stars - I want to practice writing shorter texts and I'd like to focus on a more "vignette-like" style for this story.


	3. Chapter 3

One night, they received a hologram call.

They had fixed the communicator that allowed people to talk and see each other even between great distances – such as from the City to a nearby ship -, but they had never used it. They had always sent anonymous information and texts through the other communicator, the one that could be directed to the computers on Earth and whose signal couldn’t be traced.

The hologram platform had been left unused since their arrival there, forgotten, and only Esther would occasionally glance at it when she entered the room where it was, afraid of seeing it activate, afraid of seeing a stranger appear and disturb the peace of her family.

That night, Mr. Butler came into the television room where they were watching an old theatre play of the Nobility. He looked scared and when he said with a trembling metallic voice that the hologram platform was ringing, Meier and Charlotte shared a surprised, slightly fearful look. Esther, barely twelve years old, jumped up and grabbed her mother’s hand.

She refused to set foot into the hologram room, but she and the robots watched everything from behind the half-closed door. Meier and Charlotte stood in front of the platform, hand in hand, on a large metallic plate that would show their hologram to the one calling; when Meier nodded to Mr. Butler, the robot pressed a button on a console nearby and the call was answered.

A tall Noble woman appeared. The hologram wasn’t perfect – it flickered, the colours were somewhat dull, and her voice echoed too much -, but everyone could see how aristocratic and elegant she was, with straight black hair set in an intricate hairstyle and red lips, her dress a collection of silk, gems, and satin that highlighted the pallor of her skin and her dark scarlet eyes. She looked imposing, too majestic for that place where that sweet family had built their peace and serenity surrounded by nature and kind robot friends.

She looked like she didn’t belong there at all, even though the City had originally been built for both humans _and_ Nobles using the Nobility’s technology and the Sacred Ancestor’s help. But the City was Meier and Charlotte and Esther’s, now, and despite their willingness to welcome anyone who might need a safe haven, they were uncomfortable in the presence of that haughty Noble.

“Oh my! So the City is inhabited again!” she said, her voice high and sharp. Esther disliked her even more and she glared at the hologram, hidden behind the door. She could see how tense her parents were – Meier had stepped closer to Charlotte and she was discreetly looking at the stranger, not daring to stare at her directly.

“My servants told me the ship found some strange signals coming from this part of space. I was traveling nearby, so I decided to take a look.” She smiled, an amused smile that didn’t reach her eyes, which were looking at Meier only. “What a wonderful surprise. I wasn’t expecting to find the City again. I forgot about its exact whereabouts and I wasn’t planning of searching for it, but I am happy I stumbled upon it.”

“Forgive us, lady.” Meier interrupted her and Esther could hear from his tone, too cold and polite, how annoyed he was. “May we know your name?”

“Of course! What terrible manners I have.” She told them she was Marchioness _something_ – Esther didn’t care and she didn’t want to know her name anyway. She just wanted her to be gone as soon as possible and never see her set foot into their City.

During all that short time, she had never even glanced at Charlotte. She had spoken to Meier only, smiling and blatantly observing him with curious, intrigued eyes and he had returned the stare with ice and badly disguised disgust on his face and in his voice. He had never stopped holding Charlotte’s hand and when he introduced her and himself to the Marchioness, he did so with pride:

“This is my wife, Baroness Charlotte, and I am Baron Meier Link.”

The Marchioness finally glanced at Charlotte and her smile turned ironic, as if she couldn’t believe what she had heard. Charlotte nodded at her, blushing under her scrutiny, and the Marchioness said: “Such a pretty human you chose as a wife, Baron! So, the City is still a sanctuary for those Nobles that wish to spare humans, mh?”

Esther could see how furious her father was – his jaw was twitching and his grip on Charlotte’s hand looked strong, painful. But she squeezed his hand back and brushed her arm against his and managed to calm him down.

“It’s a haven for the Nobles and humans that wish to live together.” he corrected the Marchioness, glaring at her. “And Charlotte and I chose each other.”

She didn’t even seem to notice how angry he was. Her smile just turned more amused and she said: “I suppose the City is full of other couples like you. I left it many, many centuries ago, when young dhampirs used to run all around and Noble men and women declared their love to humans such as she.” She barely nodded at Charlotte.

“There is only us here, my lady.” she said softly, finding the courage to speak to the Marchioness. “The City was abandoned a long time ago.”

“Oh my!” She let out a high, piercing laugh. “I am not surprised. I always thought the idea of a place like this couldn’t work. It is… so bizarre.”

“I disagree.” Meier icily replied. “In any case, is there something we can help you with? I don’t suppose you are planning on returning here.”

“Oh, no. The City was never for me. I admit I took part in the first expedition to it because I was curious, not because I agreed with what it was supposed to represent.” She grinned at Charlotte, showing her long, ivory-like fangs. “No offense, my lady. I just don’t believe Nobles and humans should live together like this.”

“It is alright.”

“Well, then. We wish you a safe travel, Marchioness.” Meier and Charlotte slightly bowed their heads and the Marchioness did the same. Before the communication was interrupted, they could see her smile had broadened.

“That _asshole!_ ” Meier cursed – Esther, still hidden behind the door, jumped, because she had never heard him swear before. “How dares she?!” His face, twisted by rage and hatred, softened immediately when he turned to Charlotte. “My love! Charlotte, I’m so sorry you had to hear that, I…”

“Meier, love.” she interrupted him gently, smiling and cupping his cheek. “We have always known not all Nobles share your views. Carmilla was proof of that, too.”

“Yes, but…” He took a deep breath and glared at the platform where the hologram of the Marchioness had been standing. “She might be a danger, Charlotte. I saw the way she was looking at you and I didn’t like it.” His body was shaking and there was a strong, ruthless light in his eyes. He took her hands and said, his face close to her: “I won’t let her hurt you and our daughter. I will keep you safe, I swear it.”

“Meier, don’t worry.” Charlotte insisted, pressing her lips on his. “She won’t come down here, she has no interest in doing so.”

“Do you really believe her? Destroying our happiness, destroying _you_ just because you are human, are reasons enough for a Noble like her! She is just like Carmilla!” His face was twisted by ire and worry again and Charlotte tried to calm him down, not used to seeing him so upset, so desperate.

“No, no. I won’t let her hurt you.” he repeated under his breath, pressing his mouth on her face, breathing deeply against her skin. “Never, never. I will keep you and our child safe.”

He was nervous and tense for the whole night. He spoke little and he spent many hours with Mr. Butler in a small building in the field near their castle. Esther felt like crying – she feared the idyllic and perfect life she and her parents had been living was coming to an end, all because of that terrible Marchioness, and she couldn’t stand the thought of it.

Her mother looked sad, too. Esther saw her looking at herself in the mirror, touching her face and hair, and even trying new hairstyles only to give up with a sigh. She went to her and rested her hand on hers, saying softly: “Mom, you are beautiful.”

“Oh, sweetheart.” Charlotte smiled at her and hugged her, kissing her hair. “Thank you. Don’t worry, I’m just being a silly woman.”

“Dad loves and adores you.” Esther insisted, realizing that her mother feared to be not enough, after seeing the Marchioness. “Don’t ever doubt that!”

“I’m not doubting it!” Charlotte turned to the mirror one last time, shyness and self-consciousness on her face. “I just… Maybe I should do something different with my hair and make-up?”

“But _why_ should you? You are perfect the way you are! And Dad would love you even if all your hair fell down and your skin turned green!”

Her mother finally laughed and smooched her face, thanking her and making frog noises, making her giggle in return. Esther’s heart felt lighter for a while, but her mother kept being timid during dinner and Meier noticed it, too.

“Charlotte, love.” he said gently, taking her hand. “What is wrong?”

She shook her head with a smile, looking at him with sweet eyes, but there was also embarrassment in them, as if she was feeling self-conscious about her dress or face or the very hand he was holding. Meier leaned closer and lifted her head with a delicate touch of his fingers and he gasped when he saw tears fill her eyes.

“Charlotte!” he exclaimed, but just then, when he was about to ask more and Esther was getting up to hug her, Mr. Butler came in.

“My lord, my ladies! The Marchioness has called again! She requested your presence, Lord Meier.”

“ _What?_ ”

“Yes. She said she would like to speak to you in private.”

“Never.” he growled, gritting his teeth so hard Charlotte heard the sound they made. He looked furious, like the time when he had cursed Countess Carmilla in the infirmary of the ship, so many years ago.

“Meier, go.” she told him, squeezing his hand. “It may be important.”

“Then you will come with me. I have no intention of talking to her alone – she deliberately wants to disrespect you!”

“And we must not disrespect her, if we don’t want problems with her.” She smiled and stroked the back of his hand. “Go, Meier. Esther and I will wait here.”

He looked terribly sorry and desperate and he followed Mr. Butler as though he was wounded, as though every step was a stab into his heart. He turned to his family and Charlotte smiled again, nodding at him. He nodded back, then he whispered something to Mr. Butler before leaving the dining room.

Charlotte had all intentions of staying there like she had said, but Esther had other plans. She grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the room, ignoring her protests.

“Esther, no! What if she notices it? She may get angry!”

“Who cares about her! Come, Mom, I wanna hear!”

They hid behind the door like Esther had done that ‘morning’ – Meier already looked furious and uncomfortable, while the Marchioness was more cheerful than ever. She was sitting on a high chair, her legs draped on the armrest, her long nails playing with the curtain of black straight hair falling near her face.

“What, are we saying goodbye so soon? You, Baron, you must be a descendant of Baron Vlijmen. I knew him – we never talked too much, unfortunately, but I can see many similarities between you and him.”

“I doubt we would have anything interesting to talk about.” he replied and this time he fully let his distaste and disgust for her show on his face. The Marchioness seemed unfazed by it, though – she kept smiling, her red eyes staring at him.

“I see. Well, too bad. I was hoping of finding another Noble who shared my point of views.”

“You will need to go back to Earth for that.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I will! I spent many centuries traveling in space, meeting with other Nobles who had abandoned the City for my same reasons. We never understood how the others, those who had chosen to coexist with humans, could do it. Surely you understand, Baron, how shocked I am to hear that Nobles believing in the coexistence with humans still exist. I knew your family was… peculiar, but it has been a long time since I saw a vampire married to a human. And you seem to enjoy your relationship so much!” She snorted, a vulgar sound. “Such a waste. You are such a good-looking, strong Greater Noble.”

“Is this all you wanted to tell me?” Meier said, glaring at her, his cape tightly enveloping him in a hard cocoon, a sort of barrier to keep her even more at distance, even though she was just a hologram.

“No. I also wanted to tell you that I’m really going back to Earth. It is time to end this boring space trip and return to my domains. I have kept an eye on them from afar and they are still intact.” She grinned, a so creepy smile even Meier shuddered a little seeing it. “The humans living near my castle will soon remember what being afraid means. I know our race is in danger. I hope my presence back home will change things for the better.”

“I doubt it.” he growled. “If anything, your stench will only add to the desolation and decadence of our people.”

Charlotte and Esther gasped and the robots, watching the scene with them, let out quiet, approving sounds. The Marchioness merely laughed, as if she found that conversation funny and uplifting.

“My, aren’t you a bizarre Noble? Is this the humans’ influence? Did that wife of yours play with your mind?”

“Don’t you dare mention her.” Meier hissed, tensing up. “You are not worthy of speaking of her!”

Her expression changed, then, and turned into a flinch, as though she had drunk foul blood. “You are insane. How can you find something even remotely interesting in her? How can you stay with her when you could have so many beautiful, magnificent Noble women at your side? Noble women like myself?” She studied him, her disgusted expression mirroring his own. “Tell me, did you sire a dhampir child with her? Did you allow yourself to fall so low?  It would be a pity to see the lineage of a Greater Noble family sullied like that.”

“You awful monster!” Meier shouted, shaping his hand into metal. “I won’t let you offend my wife like this! Charlotte is the only woman I desire, the only woman I want at my side, the only woman I love and will ever love! Go back to the hole you crawled out from!”

The Marchioness grinned again and chuckled, her black nails shining like onyx.

“The first thing I will do as soon as I’m back on Earth will be to kill all the dhampirs I can find.” Her eyes shone with something akin to madness and sadism. “And then I will kill their human parents after torturing them, so that weak Nobles such as you will learn not to share their bed with _animals_. But before that, I will send a gift to your wife, so that you will be the first one to learn.”

The floor near Meier’s feet cracked and the lights flickered as he let out a wave of vampiric energy – the Marchioness couldn’t feel it, but Charlotte, Esther, and the robots could and they gasped and stood still as the vampiric vibes hit them. They had never experienced them before – Charlotte had only ever seen Meier display his powers the night he had come to take her, but they were not as strong and ominous as these ones.

That night, they had been comforting, protective, his strong embrace shielding her from danger; now, they were powerful, full of rage and hatred directed at the Marchioness and she and Esther held onto each other, watching his features twitch and turn into a snarling grimace. However, they weren’t scared – now, too, his vampiric powers were being used to protect the ones he loved and Charlotte and Esther felt safe.

“You _monster_. You wretched, disgusting creature. I won’t let you hurt my family!” he shouted as the glass of the high windows rattled loudly and the chandelier swung above his head, shaping shadows on the walls. “And I won’t let you hurt innocent human and dhampirs on Earth! Mr. Butler, _now_!”

The robot, standing in a corner of the room, pressed some buttons on a remote in his hand. Something in the Marchioness’ ship started beeping loudly and she looked around, shock on her face.

“What have you done?!” she yelled, then she got up from her chair, watching something on her left. “What… what is that?”

A terrible sound, like a crash or an explosion – fire was visible for a second, the Marchioness screamed in pain, then the connection was lost. The platform was empty, showing no more images, and Meier took a deep breath, trying to calm down.

“I confirm the destruction of the Marchioness’ ship and her death, my Lord.” Mr. Butler said, ending the call.

“Move the City a little, please.” Meier told him, his voice full of relief. “Just to be sure. We don’t know whether she told other Nobles like her that we are here. Are the laser cannons still in good conditions?”

“Yes, my Lord. The City’s defences are working perfectly.”

“I think – and pray - we won’t need them ever again, but we should take care of them all the same in the coming years, to be safe. Oh, and…” He looked around, then at the platform. “Let’s disconnect this. If someone wants to contact us, they can do so through the other channel, after we made sure they are no threat.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

Charlotte and Esther silently went back to the dining room, followed by the robots, and when Meier came back, Charlotte was smiling, looking flattered and joyous.  

“What did she want, Dad?” Esther asked, pretending neither of them knew anything, and Meier shook his head, smiling as well.

“Nothing, starlight. She tried to be rude again, but I silenced her. Permanently.” He turned to Charlotte and took her hand again, asking softly: “My love, why were you crying? Were you scared? You don’t need to be anymore!”

“Oh, no! It wasn’t that!” She smiled at him, her cheeks pink. “I knew you would keep us safe. I will tell you later, alright?”

And she did, as they cuddled in bed. When she told him she and Esther had heard everything, he gasped.

“Charlotte! You heard all those horrible things?!” He was sorrowful and guilty and opened and closed his mouth multiple times, before being able to say: “I’m so sorry, my love. You and Esther shouldn’t have heard that.”

“I was happy to. I… I felt very flattered.” She smiled and her pretty pink blush came back on her cheeks. “And I am so proud of you, Meier! You protected us and the humans and dhampirs on Earth!”

“She was dangerous. I couldn’t let her leave with the knowledge that you and our child were here. And… and the things she said, I…” He shook his head and pressed his lips into a tight line. “I couldn’t forgive her, Charlotte. She threatened you and Esther! I… I…”

“It’s alright, honey. You did right. You protected our child. You protected me.” She kissed him and he finally managed to smile back. “I didn’t know the City could be moved! And the laser cannons! I never heard about those, either.”

“I read about them in a book. I asked Mr. Butler and he confirmed their existence. As for the City, I took a wild guess and I was happy to hear I was right. It’s a sort of giant, planet-shaped ship, after all.” He kissed her and his eyes got sad again. “Now, will you tell me why you were crying before?”

“It’s a stupid reason.” she said with a giggle and she laughed louder when he tugged at her braids, something he adored doing to tease her. “I… I felt a bit ugly, after seeing the Marchioness. Oh, love, don’t look so shocked!”

“Ugly? _Ugly?!_ ” He actually sat up, gawking at her, at loss for words. “You… You thought the Marchioness was _beautiful_?”

“Was she not?” Charlotte frowned, confused. “She was tall and she had a beautiful face and body. And her hair was very…”

“Her eyes were full of malice and vulgarity and she looked like she was made of stone!”

Charlotte giggled again and Meier grumbled some more before she convinced him to lie down again. He stared at her with disbelief and she hurried to reassure him: “It was just a passing thought, Meier. I just felt a bit insecure, but after hearing you say those things…” She laughed happily and threw her arms around his neck, kissing his face. “You made me so happy! You always do, it’s just that in that moment I really felt like a… like a goddess.”

“You are!” He cradled her face in his hands, his eyes burning with adoration. “Charlotte, you _are_ a goddess! My goddess, my brilliant, kind, sweet, beautiful wife!” He kissed her face, too, then he kissed her hands. “Oh, Charlotte, you are magnificent. I love the details on your skin that show you gave birth to our daughter, those signs that show we have been together for years, that light in your eyes that shows how kind and selfless you are.” He looked anxious. “ _Are_ you happy, my love?”

“Of course I am, Meier! How could I not be?” Her smile was bigger, warmer, and her eyes were as bright as the moon outside and he sighed, relieved. “I told you, it was just a silly fear – you always make me feel beautiful.” She blushed and looked at him shyly. “And when you said you love me and always will, I…” She giggled again and kissed him. “Oh, Meier, my love!”

He sniffled, a content smile on his face, and started pressing new kisses on her face. As they shared words of love and adoration, Esther, eavesdropping from behind the door, smiled and quietly went back to her room. Her family was safe and stronger than ever and peace returned in her young heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to add a little drama, but don't worry, they won't be bothered ever again :D I used the Marchioness to show how strong and deep Meier and Charlotte's love for each other is and how the City truly is the perfect place for them to raise Esther. Also, Baron Vlijmen really is Meier's ancestor - he is one of the main characters of the VHD spin-off novel about Greylancer. He was considered the most compassionate and kindest Noble Overlord in the entire Frontier and the only one who treated humans with fairness and kindness - it runs in the family <3


	4. Chapter 4

Charlotte completed her work on the special water after a few weeks. There had been some mistakes, failed attempts, and many broken vials, but when she and Meier dipped their fingers into the latest bottle, they didn’t get burned nor their hands turned black like it had happened before. They only felt the pleasant sensation of a lukewarm liquid, not too dense, perfectly transparent, and they beamed at each other.

“Charlotte!” Meier took her in his arms and swirled her around. “My love, you did it!”

He was so proud and happy, smooching her face and complimenting her brilliance and knowledge, that she blushed hard and started giggling, not knowing what to say and how to react. They tested the water with some technological instruments, which confirmed its safety, but they wanted to be sure about it before bathing Esther.

“We should take a bath in it and see if anything changes in the next twenty-four hours.” she said, tapping her chin, already listing all the things they needed to check out in her mind. Meier hadn’t stopped watching her with eyes full of love and awe and she tugged at his sleeve, laughing.

But after producing more of the water and filling the bathtub with it, Charlotte became shy and nervous. At first, Meier thought she was worried about the effects of the liquid or that she had already seen something wrong with it. But when he removed his shirt and started unfastening his belt, he noticed that she wasn’t taking off her clothes nor looking at him. Her eyes were cast down and her cheeks were red.

“Charlotte.” he said softly, approaching her with a smile. “I know this will be our first time taking a bath together. If you want, we can wait.”

“Oh, no, I want to do it! It’s just that…” She bit her lower lip and made a low sound. He took her hand and kissed it, his brow knitted in concern and confusion.

“What is it, my love?”

She seemed to retreat into her dress, as though it was a shell. He recognized the feeling on her face, now: it was shame, self-consciousness, and he gasped, realizing what she was so worried about.

“Charlotte! Are you…” He didn’t know how to say it, the thought too bizarre for him to spell it out.

“My body changed a lot after the pregnancy.” she murmured, not meeting his eyes. “It’s different from before. Softer, with a lot of lines and…” She lowered her voice even more. “And bumps and ugly stretch marks.”

“ _Charlotte!_ ” He raised her head with a delicate touch, squeezing her hand harder. He looked into her eyes with so much love and tenderness she couldn’t help but smile at him. “My love! Why are you ashamed of that? You look beautiful, gorgeous, no matter what!”

“But…”

“Come here.” He sat on the edge of the steaming bathtub and she joined him at his side, still holding hands. He slid an arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek, saying: “I love everything about you, Charlotte. Those lines and stretch marks show how strong you have been during the pregnancy. Esther’s birth made them. They are proof of that.”

Charlotte’s face lit up with joy at that and he continued: “They cannot be ugly – they are full of beauty and love and I would be honoured to see them, touch them, and kiss them.” His smile broadened and he kissed her again, this time on the lips. “Oh, my sweet Charlotte! Every day I thank you for having accepted me in your life! The changes in your body are sacred and gorgeous and I’m so lucky, blessed, to be able to witness them. It means we are spending so many joyful years together – and what better signs and marks than those our daughter’s birth made?”

Her face turned red again, but this time it was out of happiness. She agreed with a timid sound and asked: “Nobles don’t get them, do they?”

“No, and I think that’s horrible. There are no details on our skin that speak of the years passing, only some wrinkles and crow-feet around our eyes and mouth. Vampire babies are born and their vampire mothers do not carry the signs of it outside for the world to see and admire their strength.”

He placed soft kisses on her hand and she finally laughed, her smile bright, her cheeks glowing pink. His smile was equally bright and he entwined their fingers together as he went on: “Never doubt your beauty again, Charlotte. Now, would you like to take turns? If you are still uncomfortable, we can wait before taking a bath together.”

She shook her head, then pressed a kiss on his lips and got up. She undressed in front of him, her blush spreading to her ears and collarbone, but her smile never faltered. When she finished and stood naked in front of him, fidgeting on the spot, Meier’s heart burst with so much love he sprang up and cradled her face in his trembling hands, his crimson eyes staring into her amber ones.

“Charlotte.” he said with awe and adoration in his voice. He saw her soft tummy, the lines and marks on her thighs, the small bumps she had mentioned, and he loved them all, every single one, each mark and dimpled expanse of skin with cellulite. There was a story in that change, in the evolution of her body, a story that spoke of her strength as a woman, as a mother, as a wife, a story that spoke of them together, of conceiving their little girl and spending years of their life in each other’s arms. He knew her body would change even more with the passing of time and he was happy, so happy – he hoped she would feel better about herself soon and forget about the absurd expectations some men had of their wives that she had clearly heard of while on Earth. He swore he would do anything to help her love herself and her body more.

He could see she was already feeling more confident. She was still shy, her face still flushed, but when he asked for her permission to touch her belly, she giggled and nodded and moved his hand herself. He helped her get into the bathtub and then sat down into it, too – the feeling of sharing a bath with her, of being able to play together without fear of getting burned by the water, was incredible and he once again complimented her brilliance, her magnificent intelligence and expertise with plants and chemistry, and her great idea.

The bathtub was large and big enough for them to move easily in it, so he was able to kiss her stretch marks and thighs without problems. Along with each kiss, he pressed a blessing and a compliment and a word of love onto her skin; with each caress, he worshipped her; and he told her “I love you”, smiling, adoring her, after each kiss. He watched the milk that nourished their daughter pour out a little from her breasts and he licked a drop of it, making her giggle, then he resumed kissing her everywhere.

It was still too early to make love physically – she had given birth to Esther just a few weeks ago -, but they made it with their souls, playing in the water and with the foam of the soap, washing each other’s hair, talking and relaxing.

“Thank you, Meier.” she told him as he carried her to their bedroom, bridal-style, wrapped in soft, thick towels. Her eyes were sparkling and there were joy and love in them. Meier could look at her for all eternity.

“My love.” They kissed, then they brought Esther into their bed. They felt fine and refreshed after the bath; they would need to wait one day or two to make sure it was really safe for her, but so far, they hadn’t noticed anything wrong with their bodies and hair. Now that they could take baths together, they already couldn’t wait to go back into the bathtub.

They fell asleep in each other’s arms, their little girl safely tucked between them, their hearts full of joy and love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THEY ARE SO BEAUTIFUL, I LOVE THEM ;_; Also, smut coming in the next chapter!


	5. Chapter 5

Meier’s lips on her cheek woke her up.

She smiled and rubbed her face on the pillow, then opened an eye: her husband was smiling at her and stroking her bare back.

“Happy birthday, Charlotte!” he said, merry as a child.

“Thank you.” she laughed, tangling their legs even further under the sheets. “How long have you been staring at me instead of sleeping, silly husband?”

“A long time.” He continued kissing her face and she caught his lips in hers. He hummed into the kiss, deepening it, and she giggled when he touched her arm with a cold finger, tickling her.

It was their first year on the ship. They had already celebrated Meier’s birthday months ago – a party full of laughter and joy, with handmade gifts, ribbons Charlotte had crafted for him, and an interesting book about space she had found in the big library.

It had been a simple party, mostly because he wasn’t used to celebrating his birthdays year after year and he had no idea how to do it, what the general rule was. Nobles usually threw massive, complex, and long-lasting parties when one reached a special age, every hundred years or so, but he had started following the human custom thanks to Charlotte, back on Earth. Any other Noble would have laughed or scoffed at the idea of having a party just for one more year added to their age, but to him it looked like a wonderful tradition, for it highlighted the importance of each moment spent in the world with his beloved Charlotte.

That was why he had put so much effort into his gifts for her, both in the past, on Earth, and here on the ship. If the party for him had been simple and humble as per his request, what he had made for her was rich, special, and a bit bizarre by human standards.

He had brought food and coloured lights into her beloved garden, careful not to trample the flowers, and had decorated the music room with silk banners, pillows, and soft carpets, dimming the lights, his presents for her resting on a beautiful carved table he had found in another room.

He had baked a cake for her and he hoped it would be better than the ones he had prepared the previous months – this time, he had made sure not to add too much sugar and he had carefully counted the minutes it had spent in the oven, the recipe book always close at hand.

Before him, there had never been a Noble who had cooked something in the entire history of the world; before him, there had never been a Noble who had been more than willing to plunge their hands into flour and milk and watch a human dish grow in an oven. Had another vampire seen him, they would have probably killed him for having ‘sullied’ the Nobility’s reputation.

But Meier hadn’t even thought about that: he had entirely focused on Charlotte and her happiness and he hadn’t felt any shame nor embarrassment. On the contrary, he had felt joyous and proud and excited, especially when the cake had come out good.

He had crafted a new pair of earrings and new hair beads for her; he had wrapped three books about plants, flowers, and herbology in colourful sheets of paper; he had managed to find a beautiful, old collection of poems she had always wanted to read, safely kept there on the ship. He had given her all of that in the music room after dancing and eating in the garden.

“I wish I could give you so much more.” he said, putting a flower crown on her head, one made with the flowers that had been growing on the ship since before their arrival, not with the ones she had planted and raised. He cupped her cheek, shyness and shame on his face, and he brushed his thumb on a corner of her mouth, wiping off a smudge of chocolate there. “You deserve a Ball, Charlotte, with the entire universe worshipping you, your brilliance, and your beauty.”

“Meier.” She laughed softly, her face glowing under the dimmed lights of the music room. “Honey, you know I don’t need that. I only want you.” She clasped her hands and looked around with a happy sigh. “And you already did so much for me! It’s all so beautiful and romantic!” She giggled and cuddled in his arms. “And the cake is so tasty!”

“I’m glad you like it.” he laughed softly, kissing her forehead. “But I promise you, Charlotte, the next parties for your birthday will be so much better when we will be in the City!”

“But this one has already been so perfect, Meier!” She looked up at him and kissed his chin. “I really, truly do not need anything else to be happy. Just you and a slice of chocolate cake.”

He grumbled and pouted at her, insisting that she deserved so much more, but when she swore that the effort and love he had put into that day had made her the happier woman in the universe, he believed her and sighed contently.

They had never had the chance to celebrate decently each other’s birthday, before; they had used to meet in their secret garden, back on Earth, and exchange gifts and wishes of health and happiness, but time, the sun, and Charlotte’s family had been their adversaries and they had always had to hurry. The fact that they were finally able to spend that important day together without any worries meant so much to them and they had both sworn to always do their best to make it the best day ever.

“ _Your_ party was way too simple! You didn’t even let me hang ribbons and banners like you did here!” she said, now her turn to pout at him. She had insisted much, but he hadn’t wanted her to get tired and he had been more than happy and satisfied with the way they had celebrated that one more year added to his immortal life. He had wanted the focus to be on the fact that it had been one more year they had spent _together_ , not a milestone related to his age. He kissed her pout away, repeating his reasons, and she let out a convinced, loving sigh.

He kept kissing her face until it tickled and she started giggling and retaliating with pecks on his neck, right where he was most ticklish. They ended up on the floor, among the soft pillows, laughing and playing, then kissing and cuddling again. He watched her with so much love and adoration she blushed up to her ears, but she didn’t look away; she returned his gaze with the same endless love in her eyes and he spoke softly, repeating what he had told her that ‘morning’ in bed: “Charlotte, my heart, happy birthday.”

She pressed her pink lips on his, their fingers entwined. “Thank you, honey.”

 

\- - - -

 

They celebrated her thirtieth birthday with ice cream.

Esther, four years old, brought flowers to her in bed and kissed her face with all the joy and love of a four-years old girl who loved her Mama very much.

“Papa and I made a surprise for you!” she exclaimed, giggling as she was whisked away by a laughing Meier, who promised to come back immediately. They returned with a tray covered by a cloth and Esther jumped back into the warm bed in her mother’s lap.

“There are more presents downstairs!” she said, clapping her hands happily. “But this one is the special one!”

“Oh, starlight! Did you help Papa make it?” Charlotte kissed her squishy cheek. She beamed at Meier, who had placed the tray on the bed and was watching them with happy, loving eyes, then she looked back at their little girl. “Is it one of your beautiful paintings? No? Oh! Is it _food_?”

Meier and Esther giggled seeing her ecstatic expression and Charlotte stared at the tray with impatience, almost bouncing on the bed.

“Uncover it, love.” Meier said and she didn’t let him say it twice. She pulled away the cloth and looked at the transparent glass bowl on the tray with curiosity and puzzlement.

There was something in the bowl, something that greatly resembled chocolate, and also cream, and strawberry… but it looked frozen, cold, and it took her a long moment to realize what she was looking at.

“Is that… _ice cream_?” She brought a hand to her mouth. “Oh, Meier! How did you…”

“I found a scrap of paper inside an old recipe book. It said it was the original ice cream recipe used by humanity so many centuries ago on Earth, so I decided to try it.” He started fidgeting, timid and nervous. “Our little pumpkin tasted it,” and he ruffled Esther’s hair with a smile, “and she said it’s good, so I hope we did a good job.” His eyes lit up. “She helped me a lot! Isn’t that right, little comet?”

“I did! I chose the flavours and poured the milk!”

“Oh!” Charlotte sniffled, looking at the bowl with wet eyes. “I… I don’t know what to say!”

“Try it, Mama!” Esther clapped her hands again. “It’s good, I swear it!”

“We… We will work on it again if you don’t like it!” Meier swore, but she was already sure she would love it. She could still remember the first and only time she had tried it with her father and her brother, back on Earth, so many years ago – the flavour had been good, but the texture weird, somewhat off. She could already see this one was different, much better, and when she put a spoonful of it into her mouth, she let out a moan followed by a joyous giggle.

“It’s delicious! Oh, Meier, Esther, thank you! I know it sounds silly, but I always wanted to eat it again and see how it was supposed to taste!”

“It’s not silly!” Meier kissed her hand. “That’s why we made it for you, my love. Do… Do you really like it?”

“Yes, absolutely! It’s so much better than the one I ate on Earth! It melts in your mouth and it’s so refreshing and cool!” She took another spoonful, then gave a third one to Esther. “Here, starlight, let’s eat it together.”

“No! It’s yours, Mama!” Esther hugged her waist, grinning from ear to ear. “Me and Papa did a good job, didn’t we?”

“Yes, starlight, absolutely. Thank you, thank you so much!” She peppered the little girl’s face with kisses, making her giggle, then she turned to Meier and pressed a deep, loud kiss on his mouth.

“Thank you, honey!”

He blushed and smiled goofily at her, eliciting a fit of giggles from his wife and his daughter; the first ate all the ice cream in the bowl, gasping with delight when she was told there was more in the kitchens. The party, held in the dance room and in the garden, went on blissfully.

 

\- - - -

 

The next year, she prepared ice cream for Meier, too, using blood. She could see the curiosity in his eyes every time she and Esther ate it – he had tried tasting it, but his stomach couldn’t digest the salt at all and it always caused him to feel sick. So, just like she had done with the blood cake, she set to work to prepare a blood version of that delicacy that had become part of their diet.

Esther helped her, telling her when it tasted too much like normal ice cream, when the taste of blood was too light and so on. They worked in secret, laughing and giggling and whispering when Meier whined and asked for their attention and for information about their project. But he knew what they were doing had to be important and so he waited patiently, pouting playfully, smooching Esther’s cheeks when she refused to reveal even the smallest detail, watching Charlotte with lovestruck eyes as she sat on his lap and promised the surprise would be ready soon.

And when his birthday came and the party was held in their study, decorated for the occasion, and in the garden like they did every year, she and Esther carried the bowl of ice cream together and set it in front of Meier. He stared at it with childlike wonder and when he got the first bite of it, his face lit up and he beamed at his wife and his daughter. He thanked them with kisses and tight hugs, swirling them around in his arms, and with loving words. He wanted to share the ice cream with Esther, but she refused like she had done the previous year with Charlotte’s ice cream: it seemed she had a bigger preference for cakes.

“Thank you, my love.” he repeated to Charlotte as they rested in their bed, warm under the blankets that made their comfortable nest. He kissed her face and hands, his eyes full of love, a blush on his cheeks.

“I’m so happy you liked it! We will all be able to enjoy ice cream, now.” She kissed him, a joyous, loving smile on her face. “Happy birthday, Meier.”

He gave her a bright smile, his hands in hers, and said: “Oh, Charlotte, I’m so blessed to be with you! I don’t know what I did to deserve such joy, but I will be forever grateful!” He kissed her lips, then her nose. “Charlotte, my beloved Charlotte, love of my life.”

She giggled and squished his cheeks, pressing open-mouthed kisses on his face, saying: “Meier, love, you are my soul and I’m so blessed to be with you, too.”

They cuddled in each other’s arms, tangling their legs together, speaking in a soft, loving tone, watching each other with awed smiles and sharing playful, tickling kisses, every moment spent together feeling like an eternal paradise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MY BABIES ; v ;
> 
> I've been having some health problems - nothing serious, just bothersome - so updates might be a little late, BUT I'm definitely going to add smut in the next chapter, plus some scenes set farther in the future <3


	6. Chapter 6

Her parents usually celebrated their anniversary there in their castle, but Esther, now fifteen years old, thought that a trip to the beautiful smaller castle they had in the west would be a beautiful way for them to celebrate that year. They could have their privacy whenever they liked, but she had read – and seen in the movies – that a couple celebrating their anniversary in a new, special way was always a good idea.

They always held a small, but rich party for the occasion: lots of food for Charlotte and Esther, flowers and coloured lights, music, ribbons tied to the windows and long drapes falling to the floor from the ceiling. And then love, lots of love – in her parents’ eyes, in their voices, in their touches as they kissed and held each other. Esther would look at them from afar, smiling happily, and then she would join them in their dance and give them her presents.

She told them about her idea as they were having dinner in the cosy, smaller dining room. It was snowing outside – the City had an automatic weather system that mimicked the weather of Earth – and the large fireplace offered Charlotte all the warmth she needed to be comfortable. Meier of course had also made sure to cover her shoulders with a warm shawl, but she reassured him multiple times that she was fine and that her heavy dress, as well as the fireplace and the heating system that warmed the castle and its walls, were extremely good.

He always did that whenever the temperature was a bit lower than usual and Charlotte was used to his fretting and concerned puppy eyes. She would giggle, caress his cheek, and kiss him and Meier would punctually be reassured and convinced to move closer to her, finally forgetting about his cold skin.

“That’s not a bad idea! It’s been two years since our last visit to the second castle, after all.” Charlotte said, turning to her husband with a bright smile. It was a quiet place surrounded by tall hills, well protected from the wind during the colder months, but they had only ever spent one winter there in the past, while the ship still in the landing docks had been their summer estate on multiple occasions.

“If we go, we will go all together.” Meier said, ruffling Esther’s hair when she opened her mouth to protest. “Stardust, we won’t leave you here all alone just because it’s our anniversary!”

“Your father is right! We wouldn’t enjoy it at all knowing you alone here.” Charlotte let out a shy giggle, blushing. “Also, we will have all the privacy we desire in our bedroom.” Meier giggled, too, hiding his face against her hair and Esther laughed and made a funny noise, pretending not to want to hear about it.

It didn’t take them much to prepare their things. They would stay in the second castle for a month or two, they explained to Mr. Butler, and bring with them only a few robots who would precede them, like they had done in the past. They would leave the main castle at his disposal and entrust everything to him and the other kind robots living in it and in the near houses. Since it was heavily snowing, they would go with a closed carriage, bigger than the one Meier and Charlotte had used during their escape on Earth, with more comforts, a folding bed for Esther, and a large coffin.

They dressed in heavy clothes and cloaks and started their journey. It would take them one week to reach their destination, but there was no hurry – there were no dangers in the City and the journey itself was part of the anniversary celebration, so full of joy and bliss as it was.

They stopped along the way to collect parts of ruins Esther was interested in or simply to look at the white landscape. They played with the snow, throwing snowballs at each other, making snowmen and snow-angels, and observed the stars that shone with even more clarity in the crisp, cold sky. Then, they went back into the warmth of their carriage and rested after a nutritious meal. Esther curled under a heavy blanket in the folding bed and fell asleep after receiving a goodnight kiss and a short story from her parents. 

The reliable cybernetic horses proceeded steadfastly through the snow – after making sure they would be alright even in the following hours, Meier joined Charlotte in the spacious coffin and draped another heavy blanket over them. They left the lid open, in case Esther would need something during the night; the lights were turned off, anyway, and only the pleasant, relaxing soft light of the stars and moon outside filled the carriage.

“Are you warm, my love?”

“Oh, yes!” Charlotte rubbed her face on his silk shirt, smiling. “You don’t have to worry, Meier. You always get pretty warm, too.”

“That’s because _you_ share your warmth with me.” he said, eyeing her with concern. “I can’t offer you mine in return and I always fear to find you freezing in the morning!”

“Silly!” she giggled, trying to stifle the sound to avoid waking Esther up. “I never get cold in your arms. And it feels so good to hug you in summer!”

He giggled, too, remembering all the times she had rubbed her face and back on his bare skin during the hotter months, when the weather in the City would get warm and humid even with the lack of a sun in the sky (Esther, whose skin was also particularly colder than a human’s due to her dhampir nature, was Charlotte’s favourite pillow as well). But no matter how much his wife had insisted over the years, he was still scared of ruining her sleep in the winter months because of his vampiric bodily temperature.

“When we got married on the ship, it was summer in our part of Earth.” he whispered, rubbing circles on the back of her hand. She looked up at him, her smile wide, her cheeks pink – her hair, loosened for the night, covered the lining of the coffin like a mantle of brown feathers.

“Yes, but we never know what season our anniversary is in here in the City, since the weather cycle is set on random.” She kissed his fingertips and stifled her laugh again when he tapped her nose and tickled her cheek. “I still can’t believe the Nobles who built it thought of something like this! It’s a nice idea, you never know what to expect and it’s always so surprising to see snow fall immediately after a hot summer night!”

“You know,” he said, smiling shyly, sheepishly, “when we first learned how the weather cycle worked here in the City, I feared you would mind not being able to enjoy the seasons in the usual way. Or not being able to celebrate our anniversary always during summer.” He looked away, blushing, and lowered his voice. “One day, I, uh… I went to the building where the weather control system is, but I wasn’t able to understand how it works. I wanted to change it into the order we had on Earth, but I feared of breaking it.”

“Oh, Meier!” She squished his cheeks and kissed his face. “Honey, I love how the weather works here! Stop worrying – we could celebrate our anniversary in the middle of a sandstorm and I would still be the happiest woman in the universe.”

He let out a relieved and happy sigh, his smile now broad and glowing, and he kissed her face in return. They talked and kissed a little bit more under the blanket before falling asleep in each other’s arms – when they woke up many hours later, they checked on their progress and woke Esther up with a kiss on the forehead, a warm cup of synthetic blood, one of milk, and some biscuits Mr. Cook had prepared for her and Charlotte.

After their breakfast, Meier and Charlotte sat on the settee placed against one of the walls of the carriage and asked Esther to pick a book; she loved it when they read her stories and she loved hearing more about the City, the Nobility, and the human civilization, even though she always avoided asking about Earth in particular, since she disliked it. This time, she didn’t choose any book and asked her parents for a fairytale instead, another one of her favourite topics.

Ever since she was a child, Meier and Charlotte had always acted out the fairytales they would tell her; Meier was good at making the voices, Charlotte at making the faces and movements of the characters and Esther would always laugh, rolling on the ground, and giggle until she got the hiccups. Even now that she was a dhampir teenager, she enjoyed seeing them play the stories out and they knew that; they started telling her one in the usual manner and she listened with a big smile on her face, laughing with them every time they said or did something in a funny way.

“Tell me again how you met.” she asked after they finished with the fairytale. They never acted out the true events of their life, but told them with sweet smiles and soft voices, looking at each other with dreaming, awed gazes that filled her heart with joy. She loved seeing her parents being so in love with each other.

Charlotte started first, sitting behind her to brush her long silver hair. Meier sat at her side, preparing hot chocolate for them with a tender smile. Two or three times he turned to Charlotte to playfully tug at one of her braids and add something – when she got halfway, she let him continue and she and Esther listened to him while sipping delicious, steaming hot chocolate.

Esther had never asked them outright how exactly they had escaped from Earth. She just had a vague idea, based on what she had been able to understand and gather from the few clues heard now and then. But now that she was older and her dislike for Earth had been edulcorated by a little of healthy curiosity and wonder, she found the courage to ask them more details.

“How… How did you reach the City?” She looked into her empty cup, then at them, hoping her questions wouldn’t bother them. “Where did you find the ship? You never told me that.”

Meier and Charlotte shared a surprised look which quickly turned into a smile. They turned to her and Charlotte said, caressing her hair: “We contacted many Nobles who could own a ship, but none of them had one. A Noble Countess heard about the rumours and contacted us, saying she had the means to help us reach the City.”

“A good Countess?” Esther asked, frowning. She thought all Nobles left on Earth were against vampire-human relationships and her parents’ embarrassed look confirmed her idea. “Oh. A bad one, then?”

“She was a cruel, ancient Noble, but we didn’t know that.” Meier said softly. He and Charlotte shared another look; they were aware of the fact that their daughter deserved to know the full truth, now that she was old enough to understand, but they feared her reaction upon hearing what they had experienced. She was very protective of them and learning that her mother had almost died, that they had been almost killed on the bridge, would cause her great pain and distress. But they couldn’t avoid that topic forever, especially now that she was directly asking about it, and so they agreed with a single look.

“She tricked us. She welcomed us in her castle, pretended to be our ally and then she attacked us with illusions.” Meier looked down, guilt in his crimson eyes. He still hadn’t forgiven himself. “She injured your mother. She almost succeeded in draining all of her blood, trying to regain her physical form, but the Hunters chasing us helped us stop her before it was too late.”

“Mom!” Esther cried out, tears filling her eyes. “Mom, she hurt you?! How… How did you…”

“Your father helped me recover on the ship. There is a beautiful infirmary on it.” Charlotte took her hands and squeezed them. “Starlight, don’t cry! I perfectly recovered and your father and I spent three perfect years on the ship, healing together from all the suffering we had gone through!” She kissed her forehead and Esther’s tears stopped. Her mother’s smile was glowing and joyful. “And then we reached the City and you were born. We couldn’t ask for a better life.”

Esther sniffled and nodded. Her lips were still quivering and her hands still trembling, but a tight hug from her parents calmed her down. She accepted another cup of hot chocolate and asked while drinking it: “How did you convince the Hunters to let you go?”

“I don’t know.” Meier admitted. “It was the Huntress in red who shouted at the Hunter D to stop. She threw your mother’s engagement ring and he accepted to take that to her family as proof. I hurried to take your mother to the ship and start the engine, then I searched for the infirmary on board.”

Esther made a tiny sound and nodded again. But then she frowned a second time and insisted: “Did they never catch up with you before the castle?”

“They did.” Charlotte answered and the pain those encounters - especially the second one on the bridge - had caused them still hurt her heart, for Meier had almost burned to death and she still felt it had been her fault. After all, her father had sent those Hunters after them - the guilt caused by seeing Meier hurt and mocked was still fresh in her soul. “But they weren’t able to stop us. The three Barbaroi helped us, remember?”

“Yes.” Esther bit her lips. She felt better after hearing the full story, even though she could sense some details were still missing. At the same time, she felt bad for what her parents had been forced to experience, for what the world and the people of Earth had done to them. But now they were in the City of the Night, safe and sound, and nobody would ever bother her family’s peace, she swore it. She would protect them and their home and if someone who had suffered as much as them would ever come there to ask for help, they would give it to them, building a better world far from Earth.

“I’m… I’m sorry for having asked this now. This is supposed to be a happy time.” Her eyes were still wet, but Meier and Charlotte smiled at her and kissed her head, reassuring her.

“We are happy to have finally addressed this topic with you, little moon.” her father said, resting a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Now, don’t worry about our past anymore. It’s way beyond us and nobody will ever hurt you and your mother here.”

“And nobody will ever hurt _you_ as well!” Charlotte told him, pinching his cheek. “You must include yourself in it, too, Meier!”

“Sorry!” he laughed, kissing her hand. “Nobody will ever hurt _us_. Except for the toads you keep bringing into our garden, stardust…” He grimaced and pretended to shudder. “ _Ew!_ ”

“They can’t hurt you, Dad! They are perfectly harmless!”

“Oh, Meier, they are so cute! And the garden is thriving thanks to them!”

“But they are so slimy!” he whined. “And one jumped on my lap while we were reading on the grass, remember?”

“It means it liked you.” Charlotte giggled and she and Esther playfully teased him until he pouted and called them “wicked fairies”. They hugged him, laughing, and he broke his act to laugh with them and kiss their faces.

One week later, they reached the castle. The robots they had sent ahead were waiting for them; they had cleaned and prepared everything for their arrival and Esther thought for a moment how her parents must have felt when they had been welcomed by the cruel Countess, believing her to be a friend before getting ruthlessly tricked. The genuine joy and affection she could see in the robots’ gestures and hear in their voices made her realize once again how lucky and blessed they all had been.

Despite promising herself that she wouldn’t bother her parents that first night, she couldn’t help but spend the whole time with them, feeling even more protective after hearing the full story of their escape. They played the piano and sang together, played games of cards with the robots, watched an old human movie, and cooked together. Only when she started feeling sleepy, she begrudgingly left them and went to bed – they gave her a goodnight kiss, fixed her blanket and pillow, and turned the ceiling of her room transparent so that she could see the magical stars of the City.

They went to their room a few minutes later and Meier, sitting on the edge of the bed, watched Charlotte unpin her hair, which had been styled as a high bun the whole night. Now that she was in her forties, she had started braiding her hair in more formal, adult ways, but she still loved using pearls and making her braids fall at the sides of her face. Meier often helped her, loving to kiss and touch her curls and tickle her with them.

She couldn’t see him in the mirror, but she could always sense it when he watched her; without even turning, she smiled and said: “Honey, could you help me, please?”

He went to her and removed the last pearls from her bun, letting her hair flow down. It was getting pretty long, almost past her bottom, and she had asked him to help her cut it the next days or so. He kissed the top of her head, then took another chair and sat behind her at the vanity. He would help her brush her hair often and she would help him brush his, tying his ponytail with beautiful ribbons and keeping the longer locks in place with blue or golden beads.

“Meier, honey.” she said, kissing his fingers when they brushed against her cheek.

“Mh?”

“You are still feeling guilty, aren’t you?” She turned to look at him with worried eyes. “About what happened at the Countess’ castle.”

He looked back at her hair and the brush, not answering. He had told her on the ship, many years ago, that he would probably never forgive himself and it was still true. No matter how many times she had reassured him, he still held himself accountable. If only he had looked into Carmilla’s true character before accepting her help, Charlotte wouldn’t have risked her life like that! It didn’t matter that they had safely left Earth, in the end – they would have found another way to reach the City without falling into the Countess’ cruel grasp!

Charlotte knew what he was thinking – he was still convinced to be the one responsible for her severe injury and her words reached him only partially. She felt guilty, too – it was her fault her father had sent those Hunters after them! It was her fault Meier had risked his life thrice – in the tunnel, on the bridge, and in the Countess’ castle, while she lay unconscious due to bloodloss. She had heard the Hunter D doubt his goodness and selflessness. She had seen how much Meier had suffered, how deeply the sun had burned his skin; she had heard the cruel, ruthless, mocking words of those horrible Hunters as he had fought against the unspeakable pain and heat to save her. And so, she, too, couldn’t shake that guilt off her shoulders, no matter how much Meier insisted it wasn’t her fault and that he would walk ten million times more into the sun for her sake.

He knew she still felt guilty, too, and so he gave her a look with a knowing smile. She blushed and huffed, tugging at his cravat, and exclaiming: “But that _was_ my fault, you silly!”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“Then what happened in Carmilla’s castle wasn’t your fault, either!”

“Yes, it was.”

She pouted and folded her arms on her chest and Meier laughed softly, putting the brush back on the vanity before taking her into his arms. He kissed her and her pout melted into his mouth. When they pulled back, she looked into his eyes and sighed.

“Meier, beloved. When will you stop being so stubborn about this? Please, I don’t want this guilt to eat you from the inside!”

“Don’t worry, my love.” He kissed her again. “It’s not ruining our time together, it never has. It’s just there, lingering in a part of my heart. But I don’t want you to feel it, too.” He nuzzled her nose and gave her a pointed look. “I will stop being so stubborn when _you_ will do the same.”

“Then I fear we will both feel responsible for what happened to each other for a long time.” she sighed, but he started laughing, much to her surprise, and the sight of him laughing so carefreely made her feel light and joyful as well.

“We are still two dorks, aren’t we?” he said, pressing his lips on her cheek, and she giggled and nodded, before moving to sit on his lap. Once there, she started kissing his face and neck, tickling him, and he retaliated by returning those same tickling kisses. She giggled louder, kicking her feet in the air, and he giggled with her, licking her earlobe and snorting when her warm hands teased his butt.

The exact day of their anniversary would be in two days – they would start decorating the castle and help the robots prepare the food tomorrow. But for them, it was always time to celebrate their marriage and so they went to bed and undressed each other with love and playfulness.

Charlotte felt proud of her body, now, thanks to Meier’s constant adoration, and wrinkles had started appearing near his eyes and mouth, too. They kissed each other’s lines and crow-feet, giggled and moaned under the sheets, and told each other “I love you” with so much love and ardour tears of joy filled their eyes. They fell asleep in each other’s arms like they had done for the last eighteen years and their wedding rings shone brightly under the moonlight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My last chapter of 2018 is of course about Meier and Charlotte! ( ´ ▽ ` )
> 
> Happy New Year!!


	7. Chapter 7

Esther had always kept her hair long. She would braid it in the most wonderful ways with her parents’ help and brush it every night before going to bed. But after watching an old Earth movie starring a badass lady with short hair, she suddenly changed her mind and asked her parents to help her cut it short.

“Are you sure?” Charlotte asked, looking at her beautiful silver braid with a worried, even slightly sad expression. “It will take it a long while to grow back like this.”

Meier stood next to her in silence, sniffling sorrowfully and watching his daughter nod vehemently with puppy eyes and a pout full of misery. Charlotte giggled and playfully swatted his chest.

“Meier! It _will_ grow back!”

“I know, but…” He sighed and didn’t finish, not wanting to influence Esther. She was sixteen, now, and was starting to express her opinions, tastes, and ideas more strongly than before. If that was her choice, they would respect it.

“I want to change style for a while.” she said, sitting more comfortably on the chair, waiting for her mother to pick up the scissors. “That lady had silver hair like mine and she looked so cool! Also, it’s getting too long to explore the caves of the City without constantly fighting with it and tying it back. I want to feel lighter!”

“Alright. Turn on the TV and let me see this lady. I will see what I can do.” Charlotte rolled up her sleeves and observed intently the paused scene on the screen, taking in all the details of the new hairstyle her daughter wanted. She had become good at cutting hair thanks to cutting Meier’s and Esther’s for years, just like Meier was good after years of cutting and trimming hers. But he stood at her side, not moving, engulfed in the cape he had put on to briefly go outside in the garden.

“Alright, I’m going to start!” Charlotte announced with a smile, snapping the scissors. “Are you sure about this, starlight? Completely, fully sure?”

“Yes!” Esther straightened her back and gazed at the short silver hair on the television screen with a big, dimpled smile. “I’m sure and ready!”

Charlotte took a deep breath and cut the first long strands, grimacing a bit when she saw the scissors-blades bite into them as if they were butter; the silver locks fell on the ground, silent as dove feathers, and she took in a deep breath before continuing. She felt sad about Esther’s hair, too, but the hairstyle seen in that movie was indeed beautiful and she knew it would suit her perfectly.

Meier whined softly and stared down at the cut hair with something akin to despair. He didn’t utter a word as his wife and his daughter moved the scene backward or forward to better study the hairstyle from different angles; when asked, he gave sincere and neutral-sounding suggestions, but never picked up the scissors. He would let out a sniffle, from time to time, making his girls laugh and console him, and his pout became even more puppy-like.

After an hour or so, Esther looked like an entirely different girl. The short hair suited her face well and highlightened her eyes; more than that, she really felt lighter, now fully able to run and jump without the constant weight and bother of the long, heavy locks on her head. She would miss braiding it, but she had asked her mother to keep the locks longer than the woman’s on TV so that she could still style them a little.

She laughed and spun around the room, stopping in front of a tall mirror on the wall; since she was a dhampir, her reflection was transparent, but still visible and she admired herself and the wonderful job her mother had done.

“Do you like it?” Charlotte asked, a happy smile on her face.

“Oh, yes, Mom! Thank you! It looks so good!”

“It does.” Charlotte touched her shortened tips, chuckling. “You look sweet and sophisticated at the same time, moonlight. What do you think, honey?”

Meier hadn’t moved an inch from his spot, but his eyes had always followed the agile movements of his wife’s hands and the transformation Esther’s hair had gone under. He now walked close to them and touched his daughter’s new hairstyle with a sad, nostalgic, but also curious expression: he was torn between the desire of always seeing her being his little girl and the wonder of seeing her change and grow, even with something as simple and natural as a new hairdo.

“Aw, Dad! It will grow back, don’t worry!” Esther laughed, bouncing on her feet. “Look, now the bang over my forehead is shorter and it doesn’t fall on my eyes anymore! I can look down without having to tie it back!”

Meier smiled at that and gently tugged at one short strand, the colour identical to his own hair. He nodded and said, his smile broader: “You look good, starlight. It suits you well.”

He stopped sulking and brooding and his smiles became brighter during the rest of the day; when he found out he could still ruffle her hair without problems, his mood improved even more. Esther decided to joke and see what his reaction to a certain suggestion would be, so she said during dinner: “Mom, why don’t you cut yours like this, too?”

She was surprised to see shock on her mother’s face and not on her father’s. He kept sipping his artificial blood, completely calm, listening to Charlotte as she babbled, shaking her head: “Oh, no, Esther! You know I love my long hair too much to cut it so short. Besides, I wouldn’t look good with such a short hairstyle.”

“Nonsense, Mom! You would look beautiful as always!”

“She is right, my love.” Meier tugged at one of her chestnut braids, a loving smile on his face. “You would look gorgeous no matter what.”

“Oh, honey.” Charlotte caressed his cheek, smiling at him and Esther. “Thank you, but I really couldn’t stand not to feel it brush constantly against my back.”

“I knew you would say that, to be honest. I just asked to see Dad’s reaction.” Esther hummed and looked at him with a bit of confusion. “I expected you to react way more strongly than that. You looked so horrified when I cut my hair!”

“I wasn’t horrified! I just felt sorry about it and worried about the meanings of it.” He sighed and looked down into his enamelled cup. “You are growing up, starlight, and the thought frightens me. But,” he looked up at her again and smiled, “at the same time, I’m happy. It’s an odd feeling, hard to describe.”

“But wouldn’t you feel sorry if Mom cut her hair, too? I know you adore it.”

“It’s true.” Charlotte giggled, blushing. “He always presses his face against it and plays with it when we are in bed.”

“Of course I’d feel sorry!” he exclaimed. “But it would be your mother’s choice and I will repeat what I said before: she would look gorgeous no matter what. Bald, with green skin, or chubby or all three of those – she would look different, but she would still be beautiful, she would still be my Charlotte.”

Then he harrumphed and lifted a touched, tearful Charlotte into his strong arms to let her sit on his lap. She sniffled, drying away her tears of joy, and cuddled in his embrace, while Esther laughed happily and said she understood.

Later, in their bedroom, Charlotte snuggled even closer to him than she already was and kissed his chin. He opened his eyes, sensing she was about to say something, and he waited for it while smiling lovingly at her.

“Thank you for what you said earlier, Meier.” she said softly, entwining their fingers together, palm against palm. “You always make me so happy!”

“You don’t have to thank me, Charlotte. I meant every word.”

“I know.” she giggled, two red spots coming back on her dimpled cheeks. “And I want _you_ to know that I would also love you no matter what. Even if you became a bald, blood-fat, and indolent vampire.”

“Oi!” he whined, tugging at her hair again, making her laugh. Her gaze turned softer and sweeter and she nuzzled his hand as he caressed her cheek.

“It’s true. You would still be my handsome husband.”

“Thank you.” he said, laughing, his eyes filled with love and tenderness. He kissed her. “But don’t worry, I have no intention of ever losing my hair.”

“But there were bald Nobles on Earth, weren’t there?”

“An old friend of our family was bald, yes. He said he liked his head to feel smooth, so he always shaved it. But from what I know the only times when a Noble ever became bald was because of serious burnings and injuries on their head.” He frowned and made a disgusted sound. “There _were_ many blood-fat Nobles, though. Horrible walking lumps constantly draining their victims dry with no respect for life.”

Charlotte made an understanding noise, then giggled. Meier looked down at her, surprised, and asked with a silly smile, tapping her nose: “What is it, dear wife?”

“You would look even cuter with a bit of tummy!”

“Uh.” He looked down at his flat belly and said timidly: “You think so? Would you like that?”

Charlotte nodded, giggling harder, and he seriously contemplated it. He hummed, scratching his chin, and murmured thoughtfully: “I will have to drink more artificial blood and move less, I guess. Perhaps I should ask the robots at the blood factory to add more calories to the drink…?”

Then he saw the peculiar look in Charlotte’s amber eyes. They had been knowing each other for more than twenty years, now, and they knew each other better than anyone else, a so deep connection that there were no words to describe it. He realized she was holding back her laughter and he groaned as she burst into her beautiful laugh and hugged him. He pouted and smooched her cheek, squishing it with his lips, and his laughter joined hers in the stars-lit bedroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I always promise smut in the next chapter, BUT I NEED TO WRITE ALL THE FLUFF FIRST ; v ; Then I will focus on the smut-fluff mix ( ´ ▽ ` )


	8. Chapter 8

Nine months after Esther’s birth, they decided to introduce her to the act of sleeping in a coffin, an act that all vampire children knew well. Dhampirs usually preferred to sleep in beds or under protective layers of soil and earth when outside, but Charlotte insisted to let her try resting like a vampire would usually do. She wanted their little one to know both her human and vampire heritage and the dark sleep a coffin offered belonged to the latter.

They had found many coffins in the rooms of their castle and the robot servants reassured them that they had never been used by the last owners of the place. They had taken away their own, bringing them along in their new trips to the stars, and left those they didn’t like or use in the City. But Meier and Charlotte wanted something customized and personal, a big coffin that could accommodate all three of them together, and so they got to work immediately.

First, they drew several basic layouts, then, after picking one, they gathered the right materials with the robots’ help. They built it without their trusted servants’ assistance, though, wishing to work together alone on such an important thing. Meier used his powers and smoothed the dark metal and wood which would be the case; Charlotte worked on the lining, satin and silk and velvet with some plush pillows.

They decorated the lid with golden engravings and other metal parts which created beautiful, intricate designs on it; it wasn’t a coffin much different from Meier’s original one, but it was definitely bigger, larger, more comfortable for a family, and the designs they had chosen reflected their love, represented their trio of domesticity and adoration.

Meier made sure to install the Noble technology that allowed fresh air to enter the coffin. Vampires didn’t really need it, but they preferred it to stale air or to the even more bothering lack of it – a lacking that would hurt Charlotte and Esther. His original coffin used such a technology and that had allowed Charlotte to sleep with him during their escape – fortunately, he knew well how to build it and install it and the coffin was soon ready to be used.

When they first slipped into it, cooing and smiling at Esther to reassure her, they were happy to see she was intrigued by that new change. She looked around with her big, amber eyes, identical to Charlotte’s, and she kicked her tiny feet in the air, gurgling happily. They had pasted some colourful stars that glowed in the dark on the inside part of the lid; when they closed it, the darkness around them was broken by their soft, light blue light and Esther giggled, raising a hand to try to touch one.

“This is how Papa used to sleep before leaving Earth, starlight.” Charlotte explained, kissing her chubby cheek. “It’s so warm and cosy, isn’t it?”

Esther’s reply was a cheerful gargle and Charlotte and Meier laughed. He adjusted the blanket on her and Charlotte and said: “But Papa greatly prefers sleeping in beds with Mama, now.” He smiled at her and Charlotte blushed, her smile sweet and timid and playful. “You, little moon, can try sleeping in a coffin, if you want. There is no sun that can disturb you, here in the City, but maybe you will like sleeping in this warm darkness rather than in the light of the stars.”

They knew Esther couldn’t understand their words, still too difficult for her, but she could understand and recognize their tender tone and her dhampir sight and the azure glow of the night-lights allowed her to see their sweet expressions. She smiled at her parents, gurgled a little bit more, then rolled on her belly to touch the pillow she was resting on. They had also brought some of her toys and plushes into the coffin and she immediately spotted her favourite one, a dog which resembled Moon and Cosmos (who were loyally sleeping outside the coffin).

She sucked onto its ear before Charlotte delicately moved it away from her mouth and gave her one of her braids instead; Esther didn’t suck on it, but held it tightly in her little fist and listened intently as her mother started telling her a fairytale. She would usually fell asleep after one or two, but she was still awake and vigil and her eyelids didn’t become heavier even for a minute.

She turned to her father and demanded another story with a series of cooing noises and a tug on his night blouse. He and Charlotte shared a loving, amused look and he started narrating another tale, changing voices every time a different character spoke. But even after that lengthy story, Esther didn’t seem to have any intention of falling asleep.

“Well, now.” Meier said slowly, playing with her silver hair, identical to his own. “You are so lively tonight, starlight!” He could see Charlotte was getting sleepy and the coffin was so warm and comfortable he was finding it pretty hard to remain awake as well.

“It’s time to sleep, pumpkin.” Charlotte cooed and she was about to say something else when a huge yawn interrupted her. She couldn’t cover her mouth in time and Esther seized the chance to look into it and touch her teeth.

“Oh!” Charlotte smiled at her, gently scratching her tummy. “What is it, little moon?”

Esther made some funny noises and kept touching her mother’s lips until she opened them again; the child touched one of her canines, so smaller and different than her own and Meier’s, then she mumbled and gurgled and turned to her father. She poked his mouth, too, and when he showed her his teeth, she prodded his fangs with eyes full of wonder, curiosity, and a bit of confusion.

“I’m a vampire, starlight.” Meier explained, even though he knew she couldn’t understand yet. “And Mama is a human. You are a dhampir, half and half. You’ve got her strength and her eyes and my fangs and my hair.”

“Oh, Meier.” Charlotte gave him a tender look and smile. “She got _your_ strength, not mine!”

“No.” He took her hand and kissed it, then pressed her palm against his cheek, smiling at her. “You are the strong one, my beloved.” She clicked her tongue with a shake of her head and he licked her fingers, making her giggle. The sound made Esther happy, too, and she started laughing.

It seemed that resting in the dark embrace of wood, metal, and velvet really made her more energetic than usual. She babbled and gurgled and moved around the coffin the whole time, playing with her toys and touching the azure stars on the lid. She fussed a little when her parents gently put her back between them and covered her with the blanket again; they had to tell her two other stories before she finally closed her eyes and fell asleep.

However, Meier and Charlotte didn’t complain. They joked about it and the next night they got back into the coffin, more stories ready in their minds. Esther’s curiosity about their different races wasn’t satisfied, though; she kept watching them and their differences with her attentive, clever eyes and touched their lips again. Meier showed his fangs to her a second time and she touched her own, before giggling and turning back to Charlotte.

“Mama!” she said, one of the few words she knew, along with ‘Papa’. “Mama!”

“Yes, starlight.” Charlotte kissed her cheek. “Mama’s canines are different. See? They are shorter and duller.”

Esther babbled and focused on Charlotte’s hands; playing with them was one of her favourite pastimes and this time she soon fell asleep, cuddling against Charlotte’s chest. Meier let out a wishful sigh, watching her with a good kind of envy.

“Lucky girl.” he murmured, eyeing Charlotte’s full bosom with a yearning, nostalgic look on his face. She swatted his chest, giggling quietly, and he grinned playfully and hid half of his face against the pillow, watching her with one bright crimson eye. One of his feet found hers under the blanket and she gave him a patient look, her smile growing amused; he didn’t go further and when he rested his hand on top of hers on Esther’s slowly breathing body, Charlotte took hold of his fingers and squeezed them softly, her mirthful look turning loving and sweet.

Esther kept being curious for a little more, then other things caught her attention as the months passed. She learned how to walk and talk better; her parents brought her to other parts of the City and together they admired its old palaces and the stars above; they played in the field of silver flowers with Moon and Cosmos, spent time with the kind robots, introduced her to the horses living near the docks for the starships.

She eventually decided to sleep in her bed, not in a coffin, for she liked to see the moon and stars outside her windows better, but she would occasionally nap into the one her parents had made and they would join her there, too.

It was a few years later, when Esther was five years old, that she started being curious about humans and vampires again. She was sitting on Meier’s lap, being fed pea puree by Charlotte, when she asked: “Mama, Mama, your hands are pink and small, like a petal!”

She and Meier laughed and kissed her face, then Esther took her father’s hand and continued: “Papa, yours are bigger! Why are your nails so long? The colour is different, too.”

“I’m a vampire, star.” he said, repeating what he had told her years before. “That’s why Mama and I look different. She is a human and you are a dhampir, half and half.” He tapped her nose and she took his hand again to better study his long fingers. She looked at Charlotte’s, then, and tilted her head.

“Mama, you’re warmer.” she said, taking her hand as well. “And Papa, your teeth are different, too! They are longer like mine! Is it because you’re a vampire?”

“Yes, pumpkin.” Meier opened his mouth, showing her the fangs, and a scene almost identical to the one of years ago played out in the dining room. Esther looked back and forth from her father’s fangs to her mother’s smaller canines, touched them, then she touched her own.

“Do you remember the difference between humans and vampires, starlight?” Charlotte asked, caressing her hair. “We talked about it some time ago.”

“Vampires drink blood. Humans eat food.” Esther made a low sound, furrowing her brow. “But I can eat and drink everything. Is that because I’m a dhampir?”

“Yes, exactly.” Charlotte smiled and rested her hands on her lap. “There is a place, far away from here, called Earth, full of vampires and humans. Papa and I left it to come here.”

“Why, Mama?”

Charlotte and Meier shared a worried look; it was not the right time to tell Esther about the _way_ Nobles and humans lived together on Earth and why they had had to leave it. Meier cleared his throat and adjusted her on his legs as he explained briefly: “Some people were envious of our love and wanted to hurt us. So, we came all the way here, where they couldn’t follow us.”

Esther made another low sound, but it seemed she understood. Then she looked at her parents and asked slowly, fidgeting: “Do all humans and vampires look like you?”

They showed her pictures of Nobles and humans in many books, carefully avoiding those where they were portrayed fighting or hurting each other. Fortunately, the inhabitants of the City had collected very few of those, enlightened as they were about vampire-human relationships, and Esther was able to enjoy the sight of those artworks without problems.

But she pouted at the pictures and shook her head, snuggling closer to her parents.

“I don’t like them! They’re ugly! You’re so more beautiful!”

“Oh, pumpkin!” Charlotte exclaimed, kissing the top of her silver head while Meier giggled and rubbed her back. “There are many different people on Earth, Nobles and humans alike. Nobody looks the same.”

“Yes, but no human has your smile, Mama! And no vampire has Papa’s!” Esther’s eyes widened as a sudden thought struck her. “Why are vampires called ‘nobles’? Aren’t nobles very rich people? Are all vampires rich and famous? But if a human is rich and famous, isn’t he a ‘noble, too?”

Meier came to the rescue, explaining as clearly as he could: “That’s right, little moon, humans can be nobles, too. Vampires just like calling themselves like that. The majority of them tends to be… uh…” He looked at Charlotte, panicking, and she added with a giggle: “Rich, pumpkin. So they decided to call themselves that.”

“Okay, Mama.” The little one looked convinced now and she turned the thick pages with a smile on her face. But after a while she was struck by another doubt and she frowned again.

“But… Papa, you said we drink special blood, the blood the robots make in the big building, right? Do the vampires on that far place have it, too?”

“Y-Yes. Some of them.”

“And those who don’t have it? What blood do they drink?”

Meier opened and closed his mouth twice, but no sound came out. Esther turned to her mother, a confused look on her face, and Charlotte hurried to find a good excuse in her mind. She cleared her throat and said softly: “Well, sometimes they drink from animals. Just a little bit of blood, then they thank them and let them go.”

She and Meier exchanged a quick, ironic look: what she had just described was something that literally belonged out of Earth, an act that no Noble – except for Meier and his family – would ever think of doing. Drinking from animals, when there was plenty of humans to satisfy all the few vampires of the Frontier, when the _humans_ themselves were considered animals? If the Nobles and the Hunters living on Earth could hear them, they would fall on their backs and laugh for hours.

“Poor animals! They don’t get too hurt, right?” Esther gasped and her parents reassured her, saying the Nobles were very careful in puncturing their skin with their fangs and never sucked out too much blood.

“Papa, have you ever hurt an animal?”

“No, moonlight.” He smiled, brushing back her silver hair from her eyes. “Papa has only ever drunk artificial blood.” A familiar guilt passed over his face when he remembered the villager he had accidentally bitten on Earth, but since he didn’t consider humans to be animals like other Nobles did, his answer had been honest: he had truly never bitten an animal in his long life, only one human, and that single bite had been a great cause of pain for him.

Charlotte recognized that shadow on his face and took his hand, squeezing it gently and smiling at him. Her smile was wide and warm, full of love, and his guilt quickly retreated into a dark corner of his heart.

“Good, Papa! All vampires should drink artificial blood, then!” Esther beamed at him, proud, then she turned another page of the book. She made a surprised sound and grasped her mother’s hand. “Mama! Is this a human?”

“Yes, pumpkin.”

“But why does she look different? Her skin is wrinkled like old paper.”

“That’s because she is an old human. She has wrinkles and white hair, white like yours, yes, because humans’ hair turns like that when we get old. She must walk with a cane, see? Her bones hurt a little.”

“So…” Esther looked at her with big, round eyes. “Humans grow old? Like the animals in the fairytales books you read to me every time before going to bed?”

“Yes, that’s right.” Charlotte nodded with a smile.

“Then… you will grow old, too, Mama?”

“Yes. But that won’t happen for a long time.”

Esther grew quiet at that and cuddled closer into Charlotte’s side, grasping her yellow dress into her tiny hand. She looked up at her with worried eyes full of anxiety and asked quietly: “You… You will stay with me and Papa forever, yes, Mama?”

“Of course, starlight! Oh, love, don’t ever fear that! I will always be with you and Papa!” Charlotte kissed her face, then felt Meier’s strong arms around her waist. He had gotten up to sit next to her and he pressed his lips on her cheek. She caressed his, smiling brightly, and he returned the smile before saying to Esther: “Little moon, you know vampires and dhampirs are immortal, do you? We talked about that, too.”

“Yes, Papa.” She clung even more to her mother, rubbing her face on her waist. “But I’m not sure what it means. Will we just grow old later than Mama?”

“Not exactly, but…” He stroked her head. “We will always be together, Esther, no matter what.”

She smiled and climbed on Charlotte’s lap to better hug her and be closer to Meier. She didn’t care about the book anymore and they spent the rest of the evening playing games and talking with the robots.

That night, Esther asked to sleep with them in their bed. She would often ask that, but this time it seemed she really needed to lie down between them to sleep peacefully. Only after adjusting herself under the sheets and blanket and receiving a goodnight kiss from them both, she agreed to close her eyes and sleep.

“Worried?” Meier whispered after a while. Charlotte was watching their little one with a soft smile, her fingers idly playing with her silver locks of hair. Her smile turned bigger and glowing when she looked at him.

“Oh, no, honey! I’m so, so happy!” She reached out to caress his cheek, carefully, to avoid waking Esther. “I was just thinking about what happened earlier. It’s good that she understood. We will have time to better explain things to her when she’s old enough, but we already broached the main topic and we did a good job at it.” She giggled when Meier pressed a series of soft kisses on her palm. “I… I think we are doing good with her, Meier. With parenthood.”

“Yes, my love. I think so, too.” He pressed another kiss on her hand, then moved it on Esther’s sleeping chest, resting his own on top of it and squeezing Charlotte’s fingers. His smile was as joyous as hers. “It’s not as hard as the books made us believe.”

They laughed softly, then a few minutes of silence passed before he asked, timidly and tactfully: “What should we tell her when she will ask about her other relatives?”

“Well…” Charlotte thought of her father and her brother, of how they would have been disgusted and horrified at the idea of her having a dhampir child. She knew, even though it hurt her to admit it, that they would have never accepted Esther. Meier saw the thoughtful look on her face; he squeezed her fingers again and smiled.

“We shall tell her she has none.” she said, surprising him. “That they all died on Earth.”

“But…!” He blinked, then looked at her with sadness and concern. “Charlotte, are you sure? What about your family?”

“Meier, you know what they would think about her.” She shook her head. “I’m sure. It’s better for her to believe they are dead than learn her grandfather and her uncle hired Hunters to hunt us down.”

He nodded gravely and hurried to make her smile again with a tickling kiss. He succeeded and warmth spread across his chest when she beamed at him and said:

“My family is you and her and our robot friends and our dogs.” She leaned in to kiss him in return, then pressed a delicate peck on Esther’s forehead. “One day, when she is old enough, we will tell her the truth about her grandfather and her uncle. But for now, let’s just tell her about your parents and relatives.”

“As you wish, my love.” He rubbed gentle circles on her hand with his thumb. “Why don’t we ask our artist to make a new portrait of us?” His red eyes were kind and loving, glowing in the moonlit room. “We only have one with our Esther in it, back when she was still a baby.”

“Oh, yes, that’s a wonderful idea!” She looked down at their little girl. “She will love it.”

“And I love _you_.” he said, kissing her again, his smile lovestruck and goofy. She giggled, trying not to awaken Esther, and entwined her fingers with his. The size difference was great and that sight made their cheeks turn darker and their smiles grow bigger.

“I love you, too.” Charlotte said and soon after they were asleep, a special family safe within the starry embrace of the City.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know absolutely nothing about babies and children, so let's say that dhampir children grow mentally faster than human children, so that it will make sense for Esther to be so clever at just five years old :'D


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The smut has come U v U (and so have Meier and Charlotte HEHEHEH)

One night, after spending many hours in the woods looking for more seeds and flowers, Charlotte caught a cold.

She had never gotten sick while on the ship, since the temperature there never changed and the treatments she had gotten in the infirmary had strengthened her health. But the weather in the City changed, just like on Earth, and since she spent a lot of time outdoors, her body was subjected to different temperatures, wind, snow, even pollen.

She was careful not to stay outside too much when the weather got bad – Meier would also make sure to bring her back home as soon as it started raining or snowing while she was still in the woods or in the silver field. But that night, the air more chilly than usual, she didn’t cover herself enough and forgot to put a scarf on, focused as she was on finding the seeds and plants she wanted to study.

Later, after dinner, she started coughing and sneezing. At first, it was just two or three coughs and she sneezed only once; but then she started having a coughing fit and her sneezes increased, startling Meier, who had seen her being sick only once, so many years ago while on Earth.

“Charlotte, are you alright?” he asked, alarmed, handing her a handkerchief. She smiled at him, nodding, and blew her nose, but sneezed right after that.

“I think I might have caught a cold.” she said weakly, sniffling. He rested a hand on her forehead, a gesture he had read about on books, and found her to be way warmer than usual. He gasped, dread and panic filling him, and he took her hand.

“Charlotte, you are scorching hot!”

She touched her face, a bit alarmed herself, then smiled sheepishly at him.

“I think I’ve got a fever, yes. I’m feeling a bit cold. It’s one of the symptoms you get when you have a high temperature.”

“What… What do I need to do?” He jumped out of bed, looking at her with frightened eyes. “The doctors! I will call the three robot doctors!”

“Meier, I just need a little bit of rest!” she giggled, tugging at his sleeve to make him come back into bed. But he refused, shaking his head, and teleported out of the room after giving her a kiss.

He came back a few minutes later, accompanied by the three doctors. They checked Charlotte’s throat, her temperature, even collected a blood sample and studied it on a small portable machine. Meier stayed at her side for the whole time, holding her hand and asking worried questions, looking at her with concerned, sad puppy eyes.

She was quite calm and smiled at him, knowing it was just a cold, something every human was used to; but since he was a vampire and the idea of illnesses and sickness was unknown to him and his race, he panicked and feared she could get hurt or, worse, die.

“It’s a mere cold, my Lady.” the three doctors confirmed in unison at the end of their check-up. Charlotte turned to Meier with a fond look and a sigh that meant “Told you!”, but he insisted, not wanting to underestimate even that small threat to her health.

“What medicines should she take? Shouldn’t we make the room warmer, add some wood stoves?” He glanced down at the bedding. “More blankets and heavier sheets, too!”

“Meier, do you want us to melt?” She playfully slapped his wrist when he tried to cover her shoulders with yet another shawl, making him whine. “I’m fine, silly! I will just need to rest and take some light medicines – isn’t that right, sirs?”

“Yes, my Lady.” one of the robot doctors said, bowing. “We have everything you will need to feel better in no time. We will also tell the cooks to prepare nutritious food and drinks for you, such as soups and orange juices.”

“In the meantime, do not go outside.” the second doctor added. “More warmth in the room may be unnecessary, but do add more blankets if you want to. Sweating will help decrease your temperature.”

“Also, concerning the precious little Lady…” the third doctor intervened, scratching his metal face in a surprisingly human manner. “Dhampirs cannot get sick like humans, but it would be better not to let her see you like this too much, my Lady.”

“Of course.” Charlotte’s smile was soft and sweet. “She only ever read about colds and human illnesses in books. I don’t want to scare or worry her.” She turned to Meier and giggled. “Meier, you don’t have to worry either! You already saw me having a cold, remember? It’s nothing serious.”

“It wasn’t this bad that time!” he protested, holding her hand more tightly. “You only sneezed a little and you had no high temperature!”

“But it’s still the same thing. Don’t worry, I am in good hands.” She slipped an arm under his, looking at him with fluttering eyes and a playful smile. “Your presence will also help me recover at the speed of light.”

“Flatterer.” he mumbled, huffing out a laugh, and she grinned at him. The doctors gave her the medicines she would need to take for at least one week, recommended her to sleep a lot and dress herself heavily, then left the room with a respectful bow.

Meier fretted over her for the whole night; he insisted in adding more blankets to the bed; at first, he even refused to snuggle with her, fearing his skin to be too cold and uncomfortable. But the look she gave him was so pleading, sweet, and sad he couldn’t refuse her – and the thought of not holding her while sleeping like they did every night made him feel miserable, too.

She coughed and sneezed a lot during their sleep. She woke up several times, huffing and whining softly because she couldn’t breathe well with a stuffed nose. It ran, too, and she shyly hid herself from him while blowing it, until he started pouting so much she couldn’t help but laugh and accept to turn around.

“Feeling embarrassed and ashamed around your husband? Really, Charlotte?”

“It’s snot, it’s a bit disgusting!” She laughed when he pressed a clean handkerchief on her face and told her to blow. She did it and watched him with a loving smile and loving eyes as he smiled at her, satisfied, and threw the used handkerchief in a bin they had moved near their bed.

Hours later, during the hours that would be considered ‘morning’ on Earth, he brought her breakfast directly from the kitchens, followed by Esther, sixteen years old.

“Mom! Mom, are you alright?”

“I am, starlight.”

Esther approached the bed with worried eyes, their amber colour identical to Charlotte’s, but the concerned light in them so similar to the one Meier had in his. Charlotte laughed softly and caressed her cheek before playfully pinching her nose.

“Don’t worry, little moon! I’m just a little sick, that’s all. Humans get colds all the time on Earth.”

“But it’s supposed to be different here.”

“Why?” Charlotte’s smile grew. “There is rain, snow, and wind here, too! It’s perfectly normal for a human to catch a little something here as well.” She clasped her hands, not wanting her daughter to see her like this for too long. “Now go have fun! I will see you later at lunch, starlight.”

“No!” Meier intervened, glaring at her. “You heard what the doctors said! You need rest and warmth – I will bring you your food here later.”

“Oh, Meier! All the rooms in the castle are warm! I will cover myself well!”

But he and Esther were so anxious about her health that she accepted not to leave the bedroom at least until her high fever was gone. Meier cursed the weather control system that was still set on random, believing it and its unpredictability to be the main cause for Charlotte’s cold.

While she slept, he went to the building where the system was, accompanied by those the robots that were the most knowledgeable about the technologies used in the City. He had already tried to set the weather in the natural mode, the same on Earth, so that the seasons would be in order and there would be a logic behind the weather changes.

He hadn’t been able to modify it, then, too scared of accidentally breaking it, but this time he swore he wouldn’t leave the building until everything made sense. There was a short-distance communicator there that would allow him to call the castle and talk with Charlotte, as well as receive calls from her and Esther. He sent a robot to the castle to let them know what he was doing and that he would be home soon. He didn’t want to leave Charlotte alone while she was feeling sick.

He managed to change the mode of the weather system that very night and went back to the castle with a satisfied smile. He was glad to see that Charlotte had spent the whole time resting and that Esther and the robots had watched over her.

Her fever and sneezes got worse during the night. She told him it was normal, that it was always like that, but he stared at her with so much horror and fear, holding her hand as if he feared to see her disappear, that she hugged him tightly and called the doctors to let them reassure him, too.

He kept being sceptical, but calmed down a bit. He stood for a long time in front of the roaring fireplace before joining her in bed, wanting his body to be warm for her. He handed her clean handkerchiefs and comforted her when the fever made her shiver and her stuffed nose didn’t let her sleep. She even lost her voice a bit and her throat started aching, but she didn’t tell him that last detail, knowing he would fall into the pits of despair if he knew she couldn’t swallow well.

Hours later, at breakfast, the medicines the doctors had given her were already having a wonderful effect on her. The Nobles had created the most effective and strongest remedies for the humans – not because they respected them, but simply to help them survive so that they could always have their endless supply of blood ready at hand. The more enlightened Nobles of the City had stocked in its castles and buildings those medicines and medical equipment and Charlotte recovered from her cold quickly, much more quickly than she would have done on Earth, where Nobles treatments were hard to find and human ones weren’t as good.

She followed the doctors’ advice, though, and didn’t go outside for some days. Meier fed her warm soups and fruits, changed the bedding and sheets every night before going to sleep, read to her, brushed her hair. She happily let him pamper her – they always took care of each other even when they were well, but being spoiled and treated with such care when she was sick felt pretty enjoyable and she joked about it.

“I want you to feed me more often!” she said, giggling, before accepting the spoonful of puree he was giving her.

“I would love that.” He was smiling, too, a tender smile that made her heart race fast and her cheeks turn pink. After finishing her meal, she shyly kissed him and removed her nightgown, underneath which she was wearing only a pair of panties.

“Would you help me change into another one, please?” She slowly dropped the nightgown on the ground, never breaking eye contact with him, her blush spreading to her ears and collarbone.

Meier watched her with ardent eyes; he stood up from the chair he had placed near the bed to better feed her, but he didn’t go to the wardrobe. He used his telekinesis to open its doors, without even looking at it, and bring a clean nightgown close. He took it, but didn’t give it to her, his eyes still lost into hers; he brushed a hand down her hip, then he moved it up and touched her breast. She was warm, but he could feel her temperature had finally decreased to normal levels.

They closed the distance and kissed. They wrapped their arms around each other, the clean nightgown joining the other one on the ground, and they moaned into the kiss. Charlotte’s hands found their way under Meier’s shirt, while his cupped her butt and squeezed it, making her giggle.

“Oh, Charlotte.” he sighed, relieved. “I was so worried.”

“I’m fine, Meier.” she reassured him, kissing his face, her breasts pressed hard against his chest. “Don’t worry, I already recovered.”

“Not _completely_ , though.” He eyed her with concerned. It was true her nose was still a bit stuffed and she still coughed every once in a while, but the doctors had assured them it was normal and she knew it was, too. She giggled again and reminded him that, rubbing her hips against his.

“Temptress!” he groaned, pulling down her panties. He took off his pants, too, and Charlotte looked at his half-hard cock with a happy smile, her hands itching to touch it.

“Charlotte.” He pouted, pretending to be offended. “My eyes are up here.”

She burst into a joyous laughter and pulled him down onto the bed; he laughed with her and a few minutes later they were moaning, his cock pushing deep into her, her arms and legs wrapped around him. He touched her clitoris with a fingertip, careful not to hurt her with his nails, and she clenched hard around him, drawing a long, loud moan out of him.

“Oh, Meier, my love, I missed you!”

“I missed you, too, Charlotte.” He sped up a bit and cupped her cheek as she whimpered happily, quickly reaching her climax. “Come, my heart. You deserve all the pleasure.”

“You too.” She slipped her fingers through his soft white hair. “Please, Meier, come with me!”

They kissed and he did his best to come at the same time as her like she had asked. She came two seconds before him and he followed her right away, spending himself into her, and she held him against her chest, her lips on his hair, his peppering her neck with tickling kisses.

After regaining their breath, he raised his head and looked at her, worried again.

“Charlotte, are you feeling well? I’m sorry, I shouldn’t-”

“Hush!” She lightly pulled his hair, grinning at him. “I’m feeling _incredibly_ well, Meier. Really, I’m-” A loud, strong sneeze interrupted her and she didn’t have the time to cover her mouth. She gasped, horrified, seeing some droplets on Meier’s face, which he had scrunched up in surprise, his eyes closed.

“Oh, stars! Meier, honey, I’m so sorry!”

His shoulders shook for a moment and then the laughter that had built up in his chest exploded and he rolled on the bed, cackling loudly. She whined, her face flushed red, and tried to clean his face with a corner of one of the many blankets.

“Stop moving, silly!”

In the end, she started laughing, too, her face hidden against his chest, his mouth pressed on the top of her head.

A short while later, Esther came to visit her and was shocked to see her so red.

“Mom! Do you still have a fever? Your face is crimson and you look like you sweated a lot!”

Meier almost choked on his artificial blood and he left the room in a hurry, babbling about wanting to make sure the weather control system worked well. Charlotte smiled enigmatically, her blush deepening, and she laughed again when Esther understood and groaned, embarrassed.

“Mom! You should rest, not… not strain yourself!”

“Making love with your father is never a strain.” Charlotte happily replied, two dimples on her cheeks, sipping her tea with the greatest calm. Esther spluttered something and changed topic, but her heart sang with joy.


	10. Chapter 10

Esther pronounced her first word in front of Charlotte, while they were playing in the field of silver flowers.

“Oh! What is this?”

Charlotte touched her nose with a small daisy she had found hidden in the grass, among the taller stems of the glowing flowers. Esther giggled and delicately took the daisy in her chubby fingers, gurgling at it.

“It’s a daisy! Round and sweet like you, starlight.” Charlotte kissed her cheek, soft and squishy, smiling brightly at her. “Shall we look for more? We could make another flower crown! Remember the one Papa and I made for you yesterday?”

Esther laughed happily, flailing her arms, and her mother kissed her face before looking around from where they were sitting, searching for more daisies or other flowers that the little girl didn’t see often.

A large moth flew by and landed on the petals of a silver flower; Esther gasped and pointed at it and Charlotte taught her how to gently lead it to the palm of her hand, how not to scare it, how to handle it and admire it.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it, starlight?” The moth idly flapped its wings, tickling Esther’s fingers, and the little girl made an affirmative sound, nodding and staring at the moth in wonder. Then she watched it fly away and pouted a little, disappointed to see it go away until Charlotte distracted her with another daisy.

Her chest burst with love every time she looked at her daughter. She had stolen her heart like Meier had stolen it – she was the living proof of their love and the radiant moon of their life there in the City.

Esther was a blessing and Charlotte would always hug her tightly and kiss her, telling her how much she and her father loved her. And deep in her heart, she would always swear to protect her from whatever might cause her harm, even though there were no real dangers there in their beautiful City of the Night. She felt so lucky in having her and Meier in her life and she thanked God and the stars above every time before going to sleep.

That night she told her those things again, smooching her cheeks and playing with her among the silver flowers. They found more daisies, some frogs relaxing near a pond, and collected pebbles and coloured old pieces of ruins and cobblestone.

“What would you like to eat today, pumpkin?” Charlotte asked her, rubbing her cheek on her ruffled white hair. Esther giggled, for she loved when her mother did that, and took one of her braids in her small hand, playing with it. “Why don’t we try those pears the farmers sent us yesterday? I’m sure you will like them!”

She knew Esther couldn’t understand all that, but she loved talking to her and Esther loved the sound of her parents’ voices. She was always very attentive and liked hearing the words and Charlotte had read that it was important to always talk to children as though they could understand, even if they were still very young.

“We will also try that new artificial blood that the kind robots prepared for you and Papa.” Charlotte continued, pressing a kiss on her forehead. “They said it’s very nutritious and tasty! I’m sure it will do you good, little moon, Mama’s star.”

“Mama.”

Charlotte stopped on her tracks, staring at her little girl with wide eyes while she beamed at her and laughed merrily.

“Mama!” she repeated, louder, before cackling and rocking in her arms. Charlotte’s face became brighter than the moon above their heads and she twirled around in the silver field, holding her daughter.

“Esther! You said your first word! Oh, Esther, sweetheart!” The fact that her first word had been “Mama” filled her with an indescribable joy and happy tears filled her eyes. Then she gasped; she needed Meier to hear it, too! Maybe Esther would be able to say “Papa” as well!

“Yes, Esther, I’m Mama! Well done, pumpkin!” She nuzzled her ear, tickling her, while walking fast towards the castle, standing tall and proud on the hill that overlooked the field of flowers. “Now we are going back home. Home, where Papa is reading and studying the stars. Can you say ‘Papa’…?”

“Mama!”

“Yes.” Charlotte giggled, her dimpled cheeks red with joy. “Yes, I’m Mama.”

She ran faster, greeting the robots they met along the way. They bowed and waved at her and Esther; Mr. Butler informed her that Meier was still in the study she had made and furnished for them years ago, the place where they often studied and read together while Esther napped in a soft bed made of blankets and pillows.

She found him taking notes at the large table. He had sensed her arrival even before she opened the door, for when she did, she saw him already smiling and looking at her.

“Hello, my beloved wife!” He got up and went to them, beaming at Esther, who looked particularly excited. “And hello to you, too, sweetest daughter!”

“Meier! Something wonderful has happened! Listen…” Charlotte, basically bouncing on her feet, kissed him – he was already pouting, wanting to kiss her as it was their habit every time they saw each other again after attending to their own business; then she turned to Esther and said: “Esther, starlight, say it again!”

“Mama!”

Meier gasped loudly and gawked at her. Charlotte and Esther laughed, overjoyed, then the little girl repeated, clapping her hands: “Mama! Mama, Mama, Mama!”

“Yes, that’s perfect! Now try to say ‘Papa’. Papa is here, see?” Charlotte pointed at Meier, who was still staring speechlessly at his wife and their daughter. “Pa-pa. Pa-pa.”

Esther grinned at her father, gurgling and cooing, then she focused a little and said slowly, but very confidently: “Papa. Papa!”

“Yes!” Charlotte cheered and kissed her face, then beamed at her husband. “Meier! She said her first words! And it’s us! We are her first words!”

She saw he was crying, but she knew they were tears of joy. She was crying, too, and she cupped his cheek, stroking his high cheekbone with her thumb and smiling sweetly and lovingly at him.

He smiled back and sniffled, then he pulled her and Esther into a strong hug. They spent the whole night talking with Esther, who repeated ‘Mama’ and ‘Papa’ with joy and amusement, proud of her own accomplishment.

She learned a new word a few days later. They were in the study, reading illustrated books; Charlotte excused herself for a moment to go to the bathroom and in the meantime, Esther fell asleep, already lulled by the tales her parents had read to her.

Meier watched her with a big smile for some time, then rose from the comfortable nest of pillows and blankets they had strewn on the ground to grab a cup of artificial blood.

But he was happily distracted by Esther’s new speaking ability and by Charlotte’s kisses and laughter that he had received before she had left for those few minutes. He accidentally spilled a bit of blood on his white blouse and a curse, half-mumbled, escaped his lips.

Then he heard it repeated, much louder, and he turned with a horrified look to Esther.

“Shit!” she said again, watching him with a proud, happy smile, convinced she had learned a new important word. “Shit, shit, shit!”

Meier spluttered some nonsense and rushed to her, gently tugging at her hand.

“No, pumpkin, don’t say that! It’s a bad word!”

“Shit!”

He panicked and choked a little, desperately trying to find a way to make her forget swearing.

“Your Mama is going to eat me alive.” he whimpered as Esther giggled and clapped her hands.

“Shit!”

“Yes, indeed.”

He tried to distract her with another illustrated book, but she kept swearing and clapping. He tried to hush her by taking her and dancing with her in his arms, but she started singing the swear word off-key and he nearly sobbed.

“Esther, please.” he begged her, before he sensed Charlotte’s presence a few meters away from the door. He ran to the music machine in a corner of the room and turned it on – a beautiful symphony filled the air and Esther listened to it, too enraptured to talk. The door opened and Charlotte smiled at her family and giggled and kissed Esther’s nose when she squealed happily and asked to be raised in her arms.

“Papa chose such a wonderful music!” Charlotte said, beaming at her husband, and he nervously grinned at her, hoping Esther had already forgotten about that forbidden word.

“Oh, honey.” Charlotte tutted, noticing the blood on his blouse. She tapped his nose with an amused smile, full of love and warmth.

“I’m sorry, I can be so goofy sometimes. I can go change now, if you want.”

“No!” She eyed the muscles well visible under the wet clothing with a special twinkle in her eyes and Meier momentarily forgot about Esther’s new learned word. He grinned at his wife and pressed his forehead against hers, his hands on her hips.

“ _Oh_ , I see, you mischievous fairy rose.”

“Hush!” She giggled, kissing his chin. “Let’s go back to reading.”

She sat back down among the pillows and patted them, smiling at Meier, who quickly sat down at her side and looked at Esther with nervous eyes. Maybe Charlotte’s presence and their playful interaction had distracted her long enough to forget about that word…?

“Now, where were we? Ah, yes, here it is.” The story was a fairly simple one, describing the funny explorations of a brave Noble child who still hadn’t mastered his powers. It was a book written by Nobles for Nobles and Charlotte was enjoying it as much as Esther, admiring the exquisite way with which it had been illustrated, decorated, and written. Even the leather cover was carved with the baroque carvings typical of the Nobility.

“The little Noble decided to rest a little under a tree. It was a very tall and big tree and he loved it, because he could still see the moon through the leaves.” Charlotte flipped the page and the next one showed the protagonist drinking from a bottle of blood. The illustration was so detailed and made with care that the artist had even added little droplets of blood running down the Noble child’s chin and falling on his shirt.

“Shit!”

Meier grimaced so hard he wondered how his face didn’t crack. Esther giggled and pointed at the illustration, looking up at her mother with a smile.

“Shit! Shit!”

Charlotte stared at her, absolutely dumbfounded, speechless, shocked beyond words. Esther gurgled something, then insisted, tapping her fingertip on the red droplets of blood: “Shit!” Then she giggled again, kicking her tiny feet in the air.

Slowly, very slowly, Charlotte turned to Meier. He gave her a hopeful, sheepish smile and squeezed her waist.

“I… ah…” He cleared his throat as she squinted at him, then at the blood on his blouse. Then her squinting turned into glaring and she gasped, outraged: “ _Meier!_ ”

“I didn’t do it on purpose!” He whined when her glaring got worse. “I-I swear! She was asleep and I spilled a bit of blood and I blurted it out without thinking and she was already awake and she heard me and…!”

“Shit!”

He groaned and pressed his face on Charlotte’s shoulder while she hurried to tell Esther: “Starlight, that’s a bad word! Please, don’t say it!”

“Shit!”

“… This is going to take some time.”

In the end, thanks to their stories and books, they managed to teach Esther some new words. She understood that one was bad and shouldn’t be used, but she liked to repeat it softly, under her breath, when she thought they couldn’t hear her.

“Well…” Charlotte said at the end of that night, as she and Meier rested in bed after tucking Esther in her own. “At least we are her _first_ words!”

Meier, still embarrassed and sheepish, nodded with a low noise of agreement. She giggled, unable to pretend to be mad at him for too long. She had pouted at him for the whole evening, but her lips had often twitched as she had tried not to smile and laugh at the adorable faces he had made and his puppy eyes. Now, she pulled him into her arms and peppered his face with kisses. He immediately melted in her embrace and let out a relieved sigh.

“So you aren’t really angry at me?”

“No, you silly!” Charlotte rubbed her face on his hair, enjoying its scent and softness. “It was a funny scene, hearing her say that out loud.” She giggled again, then tapped his nose as he smiled in a lovestruck way at her. “But we need to be more careful with our words when we are near her. We can’t let her sing bad words all around the castle!”

“Absolutely. I promise.” They kissed, then Meier looked at her with timid eyes. “At least we were able to teach her the name of some animals and flowers. Mr. Butler told me there are deer living near the mountains of the City. We could go see them this week.”

“A family date?” Charlotte laughed softly when he blushed and nodded. She pulled him more tightly against her body, resuming her kisses on his face. “I’d love that. Oh, Meier, I’m always so happy when I’m with you and our daughter!” She smiled at him, her cheeks all pink. “I’d be incredibly happy even if we went to a mosquito-infested swamp or into a roaring volcano!”

“There is no risk of that here.” he chuckled, nuzzling her nose. “Although I read on the maps that there should be a small wetland to the south of the City.”

“There is definitely a _wetland_ in this bed, right now.” Charlotte whispered, rubbing her leg against his, that playful twinkle back in her eyes, and Meier frowned in confusion, even tilting his head, until he recognized it and the mischievous smile on her face. He gasped, then grinned.

“Charlotte! Such a filthy tongue!”

She stuck it out and it peeked, pink and soft, from between her lips. Meier was quick in catching it in his own mouth and they shared many words of love that night in their room, like they always did every night.


	11. Chapter 11

Esther started walking for the first time while she was in one of the observatory rooms of the castle with Meier.

Charlotte was visiting some shops of the City with the robot handmaidens, who had become her good friends and often told her, with metallic giggles, all the gossip about the previous inhabitants of the City. Meier had stayed in the castle, watching over Esther and studying the stars.

The little one liked looking at them through the lenses of the powerful telescopes, but she was still too young to really understand what she was looking at. She liked them because they were pretty and shiny and she clapped her hands and laughed happily every time she found one.

She also liked watching Meier draw on the astronomical maps, beautiful blue sheets where the stars and planets were painted with silver and golden hues. He greatly preferred that to inputting the information on a digital map and working on a hologram, even though the observatories offered that option, if one so desired.

Even though the sheets were precious, he let Esther play on them. She didn’t stain them, anyway, she just patted them and touched the lines and colourful dots, wrinkling the silky paper a little. Meier didn’t mind and he enjoyed seeing her smile and laugh like that and was unable to refuse her pretty much anything; Charlotte was the same and Mr. Butler had once joked that they would all spoil the small Lady to the point of no return.

Meier and Charlotte would grant her wishes so often that the old robot, pretty used to the ways of the world - especially those concerning babies, since he had seen so many of them – had warned them they would need to be sterner, especially when Esther would start to grow up. They had admitted he was right, but things hadn’t changed and the two parents doted on their daughter without restraints.

“Now, starlight,” Meier said, kissing the little girl’s head, “why don’t you tell your plushes how beautiful the stars are?”

“Papa.” she agreed and as soon as he gently put down on the floor, she crawled her way to where her beloved plushes were. She started babbling at them, clearly telling them in her own sweet way what she had seen, and Meier looked at her with a bright smile before going back to the maps.

He worked on them for half an hour, then an odd sound distracted him from them. He looked at the source of the noise, the spot where Esther had been sitting with her toys, and found her _standing_ , wobbling back and forth, but definitely standing on her two short legs.

He gasped and sprang up, staring at her with his mouth wide open. Esther waved at him and stumbled towards him, not able to find the right balance yet, but quickly learning. Meier scooped her up in his arms and left the castle in a hurry, using his powers to locate Charlotte in the City, his heart racing fast. Esther giggled happily, loving the feeling of gliding so fast through the path that led to the buildings and roads ahead.

He found Charlotte and the robot handmaidens in one of the cafés of the City. They had opened it and prepared their drinks before sitting at the largest table outside, gossiping and talking about everything and anything like the good friends they were. Meier smiled, seeing Charlotte so comfortable and at ease, so carefree and full of joy. She had never had real friends on Earth and he was so happy to see her finally able to spend time with other people – no matter how metallic their insides were – who loved her and admired her.

They were laughing about something and he stopped for a second to look at her dimpled, pink cheeks and starry eyes. Then he remembered the reason he was there and walked into their sight.

“Meier, love!”

Charlotte beamed at him and Esther and got up, running to them. She kissed him loud on the mouth, then cooed at Esther, who flailed her arms at her, happy to see her mom. Charlotte gave her a thousand kisses, squishing her cheeks and calling her sweet names.

“Are you going for a walk?” she asked her husband. Meier nodded, too overwhelmed by joy and excitement to speak, and let his grin and Esther explain their presence there. He put her down on the cobblestones, a bit farther away from Charlotte, and helped her stand before whispering: “Try to go to Mama, little star!”

Charlotte and the robot handmaidens gasped; Esther gurgled at her mother and made one tiny step forward, focusing hard. She looked down at the ground and her feet, grunting, and made a second step. Charlotte, kneeling down, encouraged her with tears in her eyes.

“Come here, starlight! Come, you can do it!”

Esther bit her lips, babbled “Mama!”, then walked more confidently into her arms. The cheers and clapping that erupted around her made her laugh and clap her hands in return.

Her parents and the robots spent the majority of the night teaching her how to walk better and complimenting her, cuddling her, and pressing kisses on her face and hair. When she got sleepy and started fussing, Meier and Charlotte took her to her room, tucked her under soft blankets, and gave her some more goodnight kisses before retiring to their own room.

Charlotte was ecstatic, bright like the moon outside, radiating light and joy. She bounced on her bare feet, kissed Meier’s face, and snuggled in his arms, giggling and laughing without holding back.

“I’m so happy! Our little one is growing so healthy and strong!” She pressed a hand on his cheek, staring into his sweet, beautiful crimson eyes. “Oh, Meier, I feel so lucky and blessed!”

He laughed softly, watching her through tears of happiness.

“And to think we were trapped on Earth, risking our lives, just a few years ago.” He swallowed and caressed her cheek in return. “We almost lost each other. Now look at us.” There were pride and joy in his voice and he kissed her before looking at the windows. The lights of the City and the many stars above it were well visible from there. “We are safe in our own personal haven, with our wonderful daughter and our dear robot friends.”

He laughed, ticklish, when she rubbed her nose on his neck and kissed it. There was a loving, sweet, and also playful light in her amber eyes.

“I’d say we did a pretty good job.”

“Oh, yes. But we aren’t finished yet.” He grinned at her, pressing his forehead against hers, and she giggled when his hands settled on the warm small of her back. “We still have many, many years ahead of us.”

“Yes.” Her smile was luminous and overjoyed. “Many years full of love and bliss.” Then she giggled, pulling him into her arms. “And full of Esther floating in the air and teleporting everywhere!”

“Oh, stars above.” he whispered with horror, remembering his own young days, when he couldn’t control his powers. His parents had spent _years_ teaching him how not to teleport right into mid-air or accidentally unleash his vampiric vibes. “Charlotte, she could teleport into our room while we are busy!”

“Busy?” The playful light came back in her eyes and he groaned, eliciting another giggle from her.

“Yes, busy! You know what I mean!”

She laughed harder, her arms wrapped tightly around him and her lips pressing sweet kisses on his face, and soon he too began to laugh.

“It will be fun.” she reassured him after they calmed down, her slender hands brushing back his white hair. “We can do anything when we are together, Meier, honey. And now that our pumpkin is with us, we are even stronger!”

“Oh, yes.” He beamed at her, blushing as much as she was blushing. “Yes, absolutely.”

They cuddled for the whole night, their hearts and souls at peace, knowing they were safe and that nothing and nobody would ever hurt their family under the bright light of their City of the Night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LOVE THEM SO MUCH ; v ;
> 
> This fic is complete for now - I will focus on "A Home At The End Of The Stars" for the time being. I may occasionally update this with new scenes as ideas come to me!

**Author's Note:**

> I CAN'T STOP WRITING ABOUT THEM
> 
> I had the biggest "oh fuck" moment while writing this: why would Noble women have breasts if vampires drink blood? I mean, vampire babies can't drink milk, so why would Noble women need breasts if they cannot produce it? 
> 
> I refused to accept the idea that the author of the books, Kikuchi, probably had in mind while describing hot vampire women, that is "they have tits so they can be sexy", so I decided they need them just like human women do, but they produce blood instead of milk. It might sound and look weird to a human, but it works for Nobles and that way their breasts still have a purpose and canon is respected and improved at the same time.
> 
> Also Meier and Charlotte lulling their baby daughter is the best mental image that ever entered my brain ; v ;


End file.
